


Ocean and the Tides

by boredandelusive



Series: Marvel: Just Add Water [1]
Category: H2O: Just Add Water, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alexis King has Powers, Alexis is a Mermaid, Alternate Universe - Australia, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Australia Gold Coast, Bucky Barnes has powers, Bucky is a Merman, H2O Season 1, H2O Season 2, H2O Season 3, H2O: Just Add Water - Freeform, H2O: Just Add Water AU, Mako Island, Merpeople, Merperson Bucky Barnes, Merperson Natasha Romanov, Merperson Original Character, Multi, Natasha Romanov has Powers, Natasha is a Mermaid, Original Character(s), Other, Out of Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-16 15:42:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 23,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29209803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boredandelusive/pseuds/boredandelusive
Summary: After Tony wanted to pull a prank on Natasha by stranding her in his boat, Nat, Bucky, and Alexis were stranded in the middle of the ocean. The only way to get help was by paddling to Mako Island. Under the full moon, it looked like water was bubbling, making no one think highly of it, not until the day after.
Relationships: Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Original Female Character(s), Steve Rogers/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Marvel: Just Add Water [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2144622
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	1. Casting and Synopsis!

𝑷𝒉𝒐𝒆𝒃𝒆 𝑻𝒐𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏 as 𝑨𝒍𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒔 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈.

𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆́𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒕 as 𝑩𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒚 𝑩𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒔.

𝑬𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒂 𝑺𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒆 as 𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒂 𝑹𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒇𝒇.

𝑱𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒚 𝑱𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒂𝒏 as 𝑩𝒓𝒖𝒄𝒆 𝑩𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓.

𝑵𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝑹𝒐𝒃𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒐𝒏 as 𝑻𝒐𝒏𝒚 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒌.

𝑻𝒚𝒓𝒆𝒍 𝑱𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒎𝒔 as 𝑺𝒂𝒎 𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒔𝒐𝒏.

𝑬𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒂 𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔.

𝑱𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒉 𝑩𝒐𝒃𝒐 as 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝑩𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒔.

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒆 𝑺𝒄𝒐𝒕𝒕 𝑷𝒆𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝑷𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒔.

𝑫𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒍 as 𝑱𝒐𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒇𝒇.

𝑷𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝑷𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔.

𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒂 𝑹𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒙 𝑻𝒐𝒏𝒚 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒌.

𝑶𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕:

This story will have the themes of Season 1, 2, and 3 of H2O: Just Add Water. This includes: a scientist trying to figure out the magic of Mako Island, an outsider trying to break up their friendship, and a comet "passing by" Earth. I had to change their face claims, only because the actual actors _don't look like teenagers_ , and I couldn't find anyone that fully fit them, so bear with me if it doesn't feel the same because they're not the same faceclaims. The sequel to this book will definitely have different faceclaims, and have the ones they do in the movies. 

𝑾𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔:

If you haven't already seen H2O: Just Add Water before this, this book will have spoilers of the themes of Season 1, 2, Season 3 of the show. If you have yet to see the show, I will have a link in the comments to these seasons, as they partain to the show.

There will be cursing in this book, though nothing explicit besides the light mention of blood. If you can't handle that theme, I suggest you leave the book now and delete it from your library.

𝑬𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒂 𝑰𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏:

Even though the only seen example of what a merman looks like is in Mako Mermaids, Bucky's tail will still be blue, though it moves the way an H2O tail moves. I, personally, don't like the way Mako Mermaids tails move, as I see them to be too flappy.

This will be taking place in a college setting, so they're fresh into college, and for the sake of the story, this will be taking place in Australia, specifically the Gold Coast. With that being said, this also makes them between the ages of 15 and 16, and SunCoast High is the school they go to.

Bruce isn't going to be portrayed by Mark Ruffalo, and with this being an alternate universe where no one has powers, it means they're not the Avengers. Tony, Bucky, and Steve are all from America, while Natasha was Russian-born and American-raised.

This will be uploaded to Ao3 as well, so if you see a book with an identical title and a different pen name, it's from me. This might come out in one big book on another platform, or it may be split into three on this one, I have yet to decide honestly. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, don't be afraid to reach out to me, I'd be more than willing to answer any questions.

A few things to also note: Natasha isn't as closed off as she is in the movies, and Bucky isn't as shut-down as he is in the movies, either. Alexis is just as much of a hothead that Rikki is, with the exception that she doesn't shut everyone down.


	2. 𝐎𝐍𝐄 ; METAMORPHASIS.

♤

Walking along the pier, there was a certain red-haired teenager who walked through the boats, not expecting to talk to anyone at the moment. "Natasha, hey, Nat!" Tony Stark, the one kid who was obsessed with himself to the point of little redemption.

Looking around, Natasha was unsure of whether he was talking to her directly or if there was someone else around. "Yes, that Natasha. I'm in some trouble here, can you help?" Since it was obvious there wasn't much interaction between the two, she was wary about whether to help him.

"I don't think so," planning to walk away, there was a tone of sincerity in his voice, one that made her more unsure of her actions.

"Please? My boat won't go, and all I need you to do is pass me the tools," hearing as though it was a simple enough task, Nat hesitantly stepped onto the boat with the plan of passing him whatever he needed.

"I'm not good with boats," she wasn't afraid of the water, she just wasn't fond of being on boats, maybe because she could get seasick. It was that or something else from her childhood that raised her to be the type of person she is today.

"You'll be fine, trust me. It took me a while to realize someone stole my spark plug," kneeling down to the rope, he untied it from around the dock but stayed in the same position longer to give the illusion he was tying his shoes.

"Does it work without one?" Planning on grabbing a few tools, she picked out a wrench, a screwdriver, and a few other things. Not looking over her shoulder to see what was going on, she was about to turn around to hand him the tools.

"Nope, no spark plug, no spark," pushing the boat away from the dock, she turned around sharply, being able to tell the boat was moving. Having a look of betrayal in her eyes, she was confused and annoyed, specifically the annoyance with herself in deciding to help him.

Watching his face light up with a smirk, she glanced around the boat in hopes she could find something to paddle back to the dock with. "I was getting sick of that thing anyway, and you won't find a paddle anywhere inside the boat."

"Why me? I didn't steal your spark plug, what would I need it for?" She wasn't the type of person to get into mechanics, which only threw in another variable of confusion for his actions.

"Because you're here, Natasha. My dad'll buy me another one. I'll tell you what, if you can get it going, you can keep it." Watching as she was drifting farther away and into the marina, their voices had to get louder in order for it to carry across the distance.

"This isn't funny," still looking around in hopes she could find something to help get her back, though there wasn't anything in the boat, she let out a groan of annoyance.

"Are you kidding? This is hilarious," seeing as though she was drifting farther away, Tony walked with a pep in his step, purposefully taunting the teenage girl. "Looks like you must swim for it."

"This _cannot_ be happening," muttering to herself as she sat down, there was a sudden girl who jumped into the boat Nat was in, causing her to look at the brunette with utter confusion. "Is this supposed to be some sort of rescue? I don't mean to state the obvious here, but we're just floating out to sea."

Holding up the spark plug, the girl had a smug look on her face, which Nat quickly put two and two together about the entire situation. "You took that," seeing as though the girl wanted to get back at Tony for being the way he is, she walked over to the engine and put the spark plug into the socket.

"Tony Stark's a pig. Anything I can do to get under his skin can't be that bad, can it? The name's Alexis, but you can call me Alex." Holding up a hand to shake, Natasha took it intending to get out of the marina and back to the docking station.

"Natasha, but you can call me Nat," once the two let go of their handshake, Alex drove the boat close enough to the docks, to which she saw Tony standing there with confusion in his face. With the same smug look on her face as before, Alex drifted the boat with enough water behind it to splash him.

Turning back into the marina, Alex and Nat crossed a part where there was a boy with hair to his shoulders holding his book bag. "Hey, Bucky, want a ride?" Hearing his name, he glanced over to the two inside the boat, hoping one of them had a license and knew what they were doing.

"Do you have a license?" Seeing as though he directly asked that question to Alexis, she chuckled before pulling up past the metal bars prohibiting one from getting into the water.

"Are you my father?" Hearing as though there was a bit of sass in her voice, the boy shook his head before chuckling.

♤

"Do ya' wanna go out to sea?" Hearing as though it was a genuine question, the idea didn't sound that good, but it also didn't sound that bad.

"Isn't it dangerous to go out in a raft this size?" Not knowing how the entire thing was gonna work, he didn't want to get accidentally stranded out there without a way to get back to shore.

"Chill out, we'll be fine," drifting out farther towards the middle of the ocean, the boat stopped and floated in the ocean. Glancing behind her, Alexis turned the key, hoping her gut wasn't right about them being stuck out here.

"Are we chilled out, yet?" Maybe he was having a bad day, maybe it was something else, but Bucky had quite the attitude on him.

'So, we're floating, it's not like we're sinking," knowing the worst hadn't come yet, Alexis still wanted to have a calm outlook on their situation, even if it wasn't working too well.

"Not yet," the one thing that caught their attention was the island nearby, it looked more like a volcano than an island.

"We're probably out of fuel. Feel like paddling to that island?" Pointing to the one in front of all three of them, there was the sudden feeling of disbelief striking through both of them.

"Mako Island? Forget it," brushing off the only option as an idea, it was clear there wasn't much room for discussion, but there was interest in Alex's mind of why the two didn't want to go to that island.

"No one goes there. It's surrounded by sharks... and reefs... and mangroves," hearing Nat listing those things like they were bad, Al looked around the boat before finding a pair of paddles tucked underneath the left side. "I thought there weren't any paddles on this thing."

"It's a Yamaha boat, there's always an emergency pair tucked under either the left side or the right side of the boat. And even then, it's our only option," handing a paddle to Bucky, she took the other one and began paddling to the volcanic island.

♤

Once the group arrived at the shore, all three of them hopped out of the boat and pulled it to the shore past the tide. "How are we gonna get back home?"

"Good question, Nat, maybe you should ask your friend," crossing his arms in annoyance, he looked over to the forest part of the island.

"Don't blame this on me," acting as though she wasn't the one at fault for using most of the fuel before trying to go somewhere useful, Alexis was getting defensive.

"Oh, so it was someone else's fault. Someone else took this thing miles offshore," reaching inside of his bag, he was planning on finding some sort of signal to get contact with the outside world.

Also reaching for her phone, Natasha was in the same boat with hoping of reaching someone to get them. "I'm glad I brought this, this is why I'm always really prepared." Saying the words like it would fix their situation, there wasn't any signal from the level they were at.

"Aww, I'm so happy for you," with her words coming out sarcastically, Alexis started walking towards the forest part, hoping there'd be something to help pass the time.

"Maybe we could try contacting someone?" Hearing Nat pitch the idea, the brunette turned around to face the other two with a sliver of hope they wouldn't be stranded on the island for the rest of their lives.

"Well, I'm not getting any signal from down here, so I think we need to get to higher ground," it sounded logical for their situation, but there was the guttural feeling that it wouldn't work out too well.

♤

Trudging through parts of the forest, it was Nat and Bucky trying to find a signal while Alex was walking behind them, making sure they didn't get into trouble. "Do you know where you're going?"

"Just up. I'm still not getting any signal," Bucky was the one trying harder to get a signal than Nat was, which would've explained the reason they were trying desperately to get to the surface.

"Maybe we won't get a signal, what then? What if we can't call anyone? What if nobody finds us?" Hearing a bit of doubt and desperation in her words, Nat was fearful of how the situation might turn out.

"Then we'll have to draw straws and decide which one of us the others will eat," hoping to relieve the tension, the two stopped in their tracks and glanced over to Alex with a stern look.

"That's not funny," hearing as though Bucky was being serious in this situation and Alex wasn't, it made her look like the two couldn't get anything done without there being some sort of argument.

"I'm relieving the tension," though that was her goal, it wasn't working out too well, maybe because of their situation, but the effort was unnecessary.

"You're making it worse," hearing Nat opposed the idea as well, there wasn't much else to happen other than hoping one of them could pick up a signal.

"C'mon," continuing to walk through the forest, there was an area that had rushing water. Walking on the rocks near where the water was spewing, they had to be careful and not slip and fall. "Mind your step," jumping off of one rock and towards the other first, Bucky turned towards the others to make sure they could make the jump.

Looking over at Nat, who was being cautious of her actions, Alex was the next to jump, in which she landed beside Bucky. "I don't think I can do this, it's too slippery. There's gotta be another way," planning to walk around the water, she let out a shriek when she fell into some sort of hole.

"Nat!" Making their way over to where she fell, Bucky was the one to call out her name hoping his friend wasn't injured. "Nat?"

"I'm okay, I'm fine!" Having a feeling of relief wash over them, he'd hoped there was a way for her to get back to where they were.

"Do you think you can climb up?" Seeing as though Alex was the one who asked, it showed she cared for her, even her past words and actions painted another picture.

"No," sounding as though she wasn't completely there, Nat looked around in the cave, yet there was a sting of pain in her leg, specifically her ankle, that prohibited her from being able to do anything else.

"Are you sure? Can you at least try?" Not wanting to see if the worst had yet to come, there was a moment where it sounded like she was rustling around, trying to get to the surface. The feeling in her ankle, however, never subsided, which put her at a disadvantage.

"I can't, it's too steep," seeing as her efforts were pointless, Bucky looked towards Alexis, who cocked an eyebrow in confusion. It was obvious he was planning something, but she didn't know what it was just yet.

"I'm gonna go down there and get her," saying that then began feeling the wall for a stable enough grip to help him get down there, her eyes looked at him with disbelief in his actions.

"Are you crazy? Do you really think that's a good-," her sentence was prohibited by watching Buck slide down the tunnel with no straightforward way of getting up. Looking around the cave, there was a bit of wonder in his eyes, though that was something natural in this type of situation.

"Are you okay?" Seeing as though she was holding part of her ankle, it seemed necessary for him to ask that kind of question out of concern for his friend.

"My leg hurts a little," taking the type of tumble she did, it made sense, but it didn't help their situation out any.

"It's probably just sprained," hearing a third person coming down the tunnel, Alexis took a second to glance around at her surroundings.

"What are you doing here?" As if he had a plan for her but said nothing, Alex chucked and stood up, showing that the attitude he had was only tolerable for so long.

"Well, you came down, and besides, it's not like there's a mysterious rope in the jungle." Seeing as though there was another way to leave the cave, it meant there was the possibility of all of them getting out and back to shore.

"Shouldn't we concentrate on getting out of here?" Seeing as though there was some sort of thick tension between the two, Nat was hoping to break up whatever issue they might've had.

"Yup," hopeless as Alexis sounded, there was a glimmer of blue that caught Bucky's mind. Following him through an opening in the wall, the three of them noticed a sort of pool in the middle.

"Wow, this is like the cone of a volcano," there was bewilderment in her eyes, and the urge to jump into the water, though Alex had to not follow through that feeling.

"It won't erupt, will it?" Having a pit of uncertainty in her voice, Nat looked over to Bucky, who was hoping the pool could've had an opening to the ocean, allowing for them to get out of the cave.

"It's been dormant for twenty thousand years, I think we'll be safe." Looking at the exit point in the pool, there was one thing that caught his eye. "Look, tidal rings, the water rises and falls." Taking off his shoes intending to go to see if his theory was correct or not.

Not understanding what that meant, Alexis knelt down toward his eye level but wasn't willing to look and see what he saw. "So?"

"It's connected to the ocean, and there might be a way out," stepping into the water before diving in, he went to go check and see if his theory was correct.

♤

"Bucky? Bucky!" Hearing as though it was Nat who was concerned for her friend, Alex looked at the watch on her wrist, seeing as though only a few minutes had passed.

"Relax, give him a minute," watching as his head resurfaced, he leaned against the rocks that acted as a step into the pool.

"I was right, it's about a twenty-second swim to the reef outside, we can all fit." Seeing as though Alex got into the pool beside Bucky, the only person left to get inside was Nat, who was hesitant.

"Can you swim?" It was a delicate question to ask, but considering the reaction, it sounded more like she could, but she didn't want to. "And come on, there's no other way out."

"Everything will be fine, just come into the water," hearing as though it was Bucky trying to reassure her, made her get into the water, but still sit on the rock.

"Listen to him, Nat. What other alternative do we have? Stay stuck down here forever?" Extending a hand for her to take, the redhead took it before getting into the water completely.

Something weird started happening in the water: it started bubbling. The light from the full moon beamed into the water, which caused the water to bubble. All three of them looked around in curiosity and concern, given as though this was the first time something like this had happened to any of them.

"Wow," was the only word Alexis could've mustered, making all three of them look towards the moonlight before focusing back on the exit. "C'mon, we should get out of here," taking a deep breath, Bucky was the first one to go under the water, Alex and Nat following.

Swimming through the hole, he surfaced first, followed by Nat and Alexis. "That was more than twenty seconds," considering they didn't have a choice but to swim through the hole, it didn't stop the fact that Nat wasn't too keen on being in the water.

"Oh, relax. Besides, we made it, didn't we?" There was the sound of a siren, probably the water police, there to help them.

 _"This is the water police,"_ the light from the boat was bright enough that it caused all of them to cover their eyes with their hands. _"Please make your way to the boarding latter at the rear of the vessel."_

Hearing the instructions, the three of them swam to the boat.

♤

By morning, Bucky was the one to go out for a swim at the beach. After everything that happened yesterday, it would've been nice to clear their heads. Placing his bag down with his towel, he ran into the water and dived in.

When his head resurfaced, there was a tingling feeling in his legs, but it didn't hurt. Instead, it felt like they were being stitched together. "What the-?" Looking down at the source of the feeling, he noticed a tail where his legs used to be; a blue tail.

"Holy-"

♤

Because of how common it was for Nat to take a bath in the morning to get ready for school, she had her usual bubble bath. Pouring in the contents, she waited until the bath was high enough before she peeled her clothes off and got in.

Feeling a tingling sensation in her legs, she hoped it would go away, but to her demise, it didn't. Replacing her legs with a tail, it took her a second and a look of concern to process what the hell was going on. _"Natasha, you can't stay in there forever!"_

Despite her sister's attempts at getting her attention, it wasn't working. Trying to move both of her feet wasn't working, meaning this was most definitely real. "What the fuck..." muttering those words under her breath, she didn't know what to do in this situation, hell, all she _could_ do was sit there in shock.

♤

Walking along the grass, Alexis was planning on going home, though there was a sprinkler in the way. Walking as normal, she noticed the water coming in her direction. Planning to use her hands as a shield, she felt a water droplet land on her palm.

Shaking it off, she was planning on walking away, though there was a tingling feeling in her legs. Out of confusion, she looked down at the rest of her body, hoping to get an answer. Instead, her body turned into water for a second, and there was a mass weighing on her legs that caused her to fall over.

Out of confusion, she sat up with her elbows and hesitantly looked towards her legs in hopes she could get an answer. Seeing an orangish-brown tail in replacement, sudden confusion and concern washed over her body before she looked over to the sprinkler.

♤

Later in the day, both Nat and Bucky were at Alex's house, clearly in a panic. "It was orange and covered with scales," Nat was the one talking at the moment, though the color part was the one thing that threw Bucky off.

"Orange? I had blue, and it was covered with scales as well. The minute I hit the water, I-" not wanting to finish the sentence, Nat finished her sentence.

"I _was_ water for a second," walking past the counter and over towards the couch, she sat on the armrest of Alex's chair while Bucky sat on the couch.

"I was a fish, what's going on?" This sort of development was new to all of them, and them not knowing how this happened overnight.

"That's what I wanna know," seeing as though it was quiet in the house, it was a good idea to see if anyone else was in the house. "Is there anyone else here?" Alexis directed the question to Nat, who shook her head.

"My dad's at work and my mom and sister are out shopping, we're the only ones here." Hearing those words gave a sense of relief, though it didn't make the situation any better.

"Okay, what happened to us?" Albeit it was Bucky asking, it was clear no one wanted to admit it to themselves.

"About ten seconds after we touch water, we grow these..." Alexis was the one to speak, and Nat had something else to add.

"And it vanishes when we're dry. And that's the same with you two, right?" She asked the question, hoping to connect the dots. "The tails... we look like..."

"Exactly like..." as aforementioned, no one wanted to say it aloud, though one person did.

"We look like mermaids. Except for you, I guess that'd be merman," having a smile on her face, she knew she'd be criticized for it, but it changed nothing about the current situation.

"I've told you before, you're not funny: merpeople don't exist. It's just... too weird," there was another thing that was supposed to happen, which slipped Nat's mind. Hearing a knock at the door, a sigh of exasperation left her lips when she looked to the others.

"Oh no, it's Bruce. I forgot he's supposed to be helping me with biology today," walking over to the door, he let himself in, about to call out for Alexis, though the scene in front of him made him stop for a moment.

"Alex- oh. Did I get the time wrong?" Glancing down at his watch, he wanted to make sure this was the right time for him to be there. Walking over to the dining table, he was about to set his stuff down, though that couldn't happen.

"No, we said nine o'clock, but sorry, Bruce, something's come up." Turning to face her completely, she couldn't admit what it was, not yet.

"Like what?" Although it was clear he didn't want to pry, he needed to know whether this was something that could be rescheduled or if they could go through with the studying now.

"Just something important," glancing towards Bucky and Nat, she got up from the couch and walked over to where Alex was. "But not so important that you need to know about it, I'm sorry, but I have to cancel."

Walking him back to the front door, there was a question that popped into someone's head. "Bruce, you're smart, do you know anything about mermaids and mermen?" Seeing as though it was Nat who asked, Bucky's and Alex's eyes widened before Alex walked back to where he was sitting.

"No, not really," not having an answer to the obscure question, they nudged him towards the door.

"Oh, okay, sorry," guiding him back outside, Buck and Alex stood up and walked over to where the redhead was. Turning to face the others, there was a look of a stubborn attitude. "What?"

" 'Do you know anything about mermaids or mermen?' Are you crazy?" Alex was the one speaking and considering she wasn't too fond of the idea of someone outside knowing about them, that meant _no one could know._

"Nat, this is really serious, if anyone found out about this, we could be in big trouble. Look, it's clear something strange has happened to us. We don't know how and we don't know why." Bucky was also opposed to the idea of anyone outside the three of them knowing.

"Well, there is a way we could find out more," pitching the idea, she leaned against the back of the couch, seeing the confusion on Nat and Bucky's face.

"How?" Seeing as there could've been an explanation of how they could find out what happened to them, not everyone was on board.

"No way, not right now, anyway. I think I have to knock Bruce off of our trail," fully realizing the type of question she'd asked, she had to make sure he didn't research it.

"well, I'm going, but I don't think I should go alone," looking between her and Bucky, the two shared a glance that confirmed him going with her.

♤

Standing on the rocks, Alexis had her arms crossed, and there was physical doubt in Bucky's eyes. "I'm not so sure about this. What if we get caught?"

"I am," stepping off of the rocks, she didn't want to step in the water too soon and pop a tail.

"That gives me no hope, whatsoever," seeing as though his sentence was dramatic, both of them walked towards the edge of the water, close enough to make sure they'd get in at the same time.

"About ten seconds, right?" Once they got to the knee level, both of them stopped in their tracks and faced the ocean. "One, two, three, four fi-," their transformations triggered, causing both of them to fall into the water. "-ve."

Having more of an unspoken conversation, both of them looked at one another before smiling. From there, they got into deeper parts of the water and swam to the point of the ocean's reefs.

Viewing the fish life, the stingrays, and angelfish, there was a natural smile planted on their faces, just before seeing a dolphin. Out of awe, Alex swam with it, having one hand on its fin and swimming with it for fun. Bucky went over the reefs, watching the different schools of fish swim by.

♤

Bruce was on the laptop at the JuiceNet, looking over merfolk that Nat asked about earlier. "Bruce, what are you doing?"

"Oh, well you asked, so I thought I'd do some research," generous as he was, she had a feeling it wouldn't be successful to ask him to stop researching the topic.

"That's really nice, Bruce, but you didn't need to do that," the idea of him finding out about them wasn't something they wanted to think about, and they couldn't have the chance of them being exposed to anyone.

"I know, but I've got way too much time on my hands," from there, the two began walking in the park. "Mermaid myths have been around for at least three thousand years."

"And people really believe this sort of thing?" Hoping there'd be a window of opportunity where she could tell him to drop the topic, he continued talking.

"Yeah, sometimes they were good omens, sometimes they brought trouble with them," since it was clear he'd done a lot of research, it left the curiosity of how much he'd known.

"What kind of trouble?" Hearing a motorcycle, both of them stopped walking and looked towards the source to see Tony on his bike. Judging from the look in his eye, he wasn't happy about what happened last night, and he was probably here to express his annoyance.

"Just ignore him," though that sounded like a good idea, there was the obvious point that he was gonna be persistent.

"Let's go back," grabbing him by his arm, they were planning on heading back to the JuiceNet, though Stark sped his bike between them, forcefully separating the two. Turning around, he took his helmet off and faced the pair.

"Nervous?" Something about his sneering attitude suggested that recent events affected him.

"What do you want, Tony?" She wanted to brush off what happened yesterday, especially because this wasn't just something normal that happened to everyone.

"My father didn't appreciate having the water police knock on his front door," seeing as though this conversation was directed to Nat, she didn't want to push it too far.

"You shouldn't have told me to keep the zodiac," considering it was his actions that caused everything, including having his factor be reprimanded by the water police, it didn't make sense why he was mad at her.

"I don't like people making me look bad, Nat. Especially chicks like you." He was acting out, that much was clear, but it didn't stop the fact that this was of his own volition.

"In front of your dad, you mean? Sounds like you're scared of him," Bruce was the one taunting him, making sure nothing extreme went down.

"You think you're better than me, Bruce. Is that it?"

"Almost everyone's better than you, live with it," though the argument between the two was focused between those two, Nat's attention was on the fire hydrant. Seeing as though it was starting to shake, looking more like it was about to burst, she glanced down to her hand.

Stepping closer to her, Bruce stepped in front of her, as if protecting her. "Tough guy, huh? Got yourself a protector, huh, Nat? You and who's army? It's not gonna do you any good. You know, one of these days, with or without Bruce, something really bad's gonna happen to you," just as he finished his sentencing, the fire hydrant burst and sprayed him with enough water to bring him to the waterline surrounding the park.

Shock filled her face, to which she looked at her hand in confusion, fear, and concern. Bruce was equally as shocked, and though he was about to ask her about it, Nat took off without another word.

♤

"So, when we get out of the water, everything's back to normal, as if nothing ever happened," Reminiscing on the feeling, there was still something Nat had to admit to the group.

As Alex and Bucky walked to the front door of Alex's house, Nat's footsteps became louder quickly, as if she was running. "Wait, you'll never believe what just happened!" Pulling them by their arms, she rushed them into the house and went to Alex's room.

From there, she noticed the cup of water sitting on the dresser. Extending her hand and turning her wrist, the water started to rise out of the cup on Nat's command. "And it grows even more," clearly confused about the situation, she didn't know how to process it fully.

"Where's the extra water coming from?" Hearing as though it was Alex who asked the question, Natasha withdrew her hand and looked over to her with confusion. Because her concentration was no longer on the water, it was about to fall on Bucky, though something happened as well.

When he was expecting to get splashed but didn't, he noticed the water was frozen. "Did I do that?" In his eyes held the emotion of wonder, probably because this was the first time he'd done something like this.

"It wasn't me," looking between the frozen tower of water and Bucky, Nat knew she didn't do that, and Alex wasn't the one who'd flinched, meaning the water turned into ice because of him.

"Okay, this is over the top, I'm getting tingles now," feeling excitement rush through her body, Alex looked between the two and the ice tower.

"All I did was..." extending his arm and holding his hand in a vertical motion, the water inside the vase that held two flowers froze over.

Trying to do something to see if her powers would activate, Alex extended her arms to try to do something with the water. Trying multiple times with different hand gestures, it was clear nothing was happening. "No fair, how come I can't do all the cool stuff?"

"I don't think 'cool' would be the word to describe it, it's scary. But you should've seen the look on Tony's face." Having a smile printed on her face, it was clear that what happened earlier must've been hilarious.

"Fun as this may be, we've got to keep this a secret from everyone. We could end up dissected or in a circus or something." Hearing as though Bucky was on another pessimistic rant, there was truth behind his words.

"So this secret, it's just between the three of us?" Hearing those words wanted her to make sure this was confirming everything.

"It's our secret, our responsibility. Whatever happens, we're in this together."

"Doesn't mean we're married, does it?" Hearing a giggle arise from the mermaid, there was a shared giggle through all of them.


	3. 𝐓𝐖𝐎 ; POOL PARTY

♤

By the next morning, Bucky filled his bathtub to the point of it being three-quarters full before turning the water off. From there, he kept his towel within arm's reach, took off his clothes, and got into the bathtub. 

Seeing as though his tail was still there, it meant reality was true. Gripping the sides of the bathtub, his head fell to the part behind him. Knowing this sort of change was permanent, there was only one other thing to do, and with it being the one thing he _didn't_ want to do, it made him all the more annoyed.

♤

At Alexis's house, she had a fishnet in her right hand a rubber glove on her left, intending to move one plant to a different place. Reaching down into the tank, all seemed to be going well, not until the water got into her glove.

Her eyes widened, to which she quickly took off the glove, "no no no no no no," being quick to grab the towel from her nightstand, she tried her best to dry herself. 

"Natasha? Natasha!" Joanne, her sister, was the one knocking on the door, hoping to get a response. Not counting the seconds, Natasha fell back onto her bed. "Dad says you have to hurry up if you want a ride to school." Seeing as though it was Jo trying to tell her to hurry up, she sighed.

"It's okay, Jo, I'll walk," calling out from the other side of the door, it was clear she wouldn't have much of a choice but to try to signal either Alex or Bucky. Reaching over to get her phone, she used her left hand to text Bucky.

♤

Hearing Bucky's phone go off, Winnifred, his mother, heard the chime. "James, your phone!" Calling out loud enough that it would've been heard throughout the entire house. With a bit of curiosity, she opened the flip phone to see a type of fish: clownfish.

Setting the phone down, Winnifred went back to doing the dishes.

♤

Sending a text to Alex as well, she didn't respond, considering she was the one swimming out in the ocean. After the entire thing with Natasha, she hadn't had enough time to herself to go swimming and see what it was like to swim with a tail by herself. Swimming by the reefs, she passed a few dolphins and watched as one swam away.

♤

"This is a catastrophe of the highest order! Moisturizer is mainly water," seeing as though Nat was having one of her dramatic moments, she leaned against the footrest of her bed.

"If dolphins can swim for miles, so can we," seeing as though it was Alex who made the epiphany, she kept her eyes on the ceiling.

"We can't moisturize ever again. Who knows what else out there might be made up of water," seeing as though a lot of her products were water-based, it meant there was a chance she couldn't use them without popping a tail.

"We could swim all the way to Fiji, could you imagine that?" Alexis, knowing she could go on for hours about how cool it is to be a mermaid, wasn't really focusing on the conversation at hand.

"Our skin will be dry and wrinkly! We'll be geriatrics by the time we're twenty-one (21)." Making it sound like it was such an issue that the three of them had tails, Nat was trying her best not to sound pessimistic.

"I missed training for the first time in six years," knowing that Bucky was on the swimming team, which was his whole life meant the tails could also be a daily inhibitor.

"See? See how bad this is? We have to tell someone, our parents, a doctor, the police?" Saying the last option as more of a question, Nat wasn't one who had to think about this sort of problem but still put them at risk of being exposed.

"And end up as a mermaid in a straight jacket with _moisturized_ skin?" Taunting the last sentence from his earlier rambling, it showed just how little they could tell someone about this. "Forget it."

"Alex is right, Buck: we can't tell anyone." Seeing as though the situation extended beyond just them, it showed how much they had on their plates about being half-human.

"Not even my mom?" Though Nat was the type to tell her parents everything, and the idea of anyone else finding out about them wasn't acceptable, it put her into a mental dilemma.

"Nope, no parents," speaking at the tone which had a mix between softness and seriousness, it was clear no one would have to tell anyone anything. Bucky, as much as he wanted to tell some of his friends, like Sam and Steve, he couldn't, it would put all three of them at risk.

"But I tell her everything," seeing how strong of a relationship there was between her and her mother, it didn't stop the fact that this sort of secret couldn't be shared with anyone else outside of the three.

"Well, not this time. It's too dangerous, and people just won't understand. We could be locked up," sitting up on the bed completely, Alexis was still listening to everything he was talking about, knowing it was a harsh but true reality.

"Why would we be locked up?" Not realizing that being something rare like a mermaid or merman, it was more of the fact that he couldn't bring himself to see the big picture.

"Because we're different because we can do things other people can't do because they're scared of us?" Offering different perspectives about the situation showed how much was actually going on with the three.

"Fine, I won't tell anyone... besides Bruce," dropping her head, it was clear she wanted someone close to her to know, but even then, Alex knew better than to let someone as scientific as him in on the secret.

"No, Nat, not Bruce, not anyone." Setting the rules into stone, Alex went back to being on her stomach and propped up by her elbows.

"Okay okay. Don't worry, I'm really good at keeping secrets," having a more innocent smile on her face caused James and Alex to share a look, one that made her physically grimace, as if her keeping a secret from such a close friend was gonna be easy.

♤

"Now, it's part-time people, no excuses! In honor of our very own surfing god, the beautiful Sam, for winning a special prize!" Pepper was the popular girl who followed Tony around like a mindless fly, basically trying to force a relationship the two didn't have with him.

"What prize?" Seeing as though Nat didn't know much of anything about surfing, she'd hoped there was some clarification about what trophy he'd gotten.

"Whatever it is they give out for surfing," passing flyers around for those passing in the hall, Bucky was the one who spoke up.

"The Coast Surf Classic, he won by a mile," knowing he'd seen him on TV and news was being carried around, it showed that James couldn't let go of his old habits.

"I was having a spray tan, but I'm sure he was amazing," with it being painfully clear she didn't care about him enough to pay attention to the competition, Alexis gave Pepper a side-eye with a glare. "Oh, Alexis, I'm sure I might have a blank one."

"Sorry, I'll be flossing my teeth that night," with enough snark to prove she didn't fully care about the party, she rolled her eyes and closed the locker. Bruce, who was walking the hallway, walked over to Natasha first.

"Hey, Nat," having his backpack slung over his right shoulder, he watched as she closed the locker before focusing her attention on the conversation.

"Oh, hi Bruce. Nothing much has been happening with me, nothing much at all. Just the same old thing," since it was obvious she was close to rambling on about how "normal" things have been, there was one question he wanted to ask her.

"Are you going to Pepper's party?" Hearing Bruce ask the question caused both Alex and Bucky to pay more attention to the conversation, but for now, they continued to change their binders for their next class. 

"Of course I'm going," shrugging off her answer as if it was nothing major, there was something else that needed to be said by Pepper before she left for good.

"Don't forget girls, bring your best bikini. It's a pool party," not directly saying those words to Nat, she lifted off of the wall and realized the issue with the party type. Because Bruce's attention was temporarily on the blondie, it meant he couldn't see her face change.

"Right, uh, seeing as your going," before he had the chance to offer something, Nat shook her head. 

"I changed my mind, I'm not going," walking away from the teenage boy, she went to class as normal.

♤

"It's so uncool to miss one of Pepper's parties, she won't ask us ever again," though Nat was the one complaining about being unable to go to the pool party, Alex never saw the meaning behind parties, probably because of how much she didn't care for them.

"So? That's a plus," as the three of them walked along the grass that led them back to their home, Nat temporarily turned around to face the others before turning back around to walk straight.

"It's a pool party, I know it's dangerous, but maybe if I told Bruce about us, he could look out for us?" Not wanting to let go of the idea of telling someone else about them being merpeople, Natasha was trying to help them see her perspective.

"No, you did the right thing, Natasha. None of us are going," continuing to walk like nothing was wrong, Alex noticed Bucky stopped in his tracks as if thinking about something.

"No, we should go," receiving a look of interest from the redhead and a look of confusion from the brunette, he continued. "For Sam, not for Pepper. Surfing is just like swimming, it takes a lot of hard work and training. You'd need to know everyone's supporting you," saying it as if it wasn't obvious, there was something she caught onto.

"You like him, don't you?" Growing a noticeable smile onto her face, it was hazy on Bucky's standpoint about Sam Wilson.

"Well, not in that way, but I wouldn't mind being friends with him," having the feeling they'd get a chance of going over the topic again, she didn't want to push the topic for now.

"Well, you sound like an ad for breakfast cereal," once the three of them began walking towards their location, their conversation continued.

"Well, if we learn more about what's happening to us, we might be able to control it enough to go to the party." James was the one offering the suggestion, to which there was a clear sign that controlling their transformations wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

"What's there to learn? We touch water, and ten seconds later, we grow tails," trying her best not to sound pessimistic, Alex knew there wasn't going to be much else when it came to learning about their transformations.

"Maybe we need to learn some discipline, exercising some control." As obscure as the idea sounded, Natasha agreed to the thought of it.

"That'd be perfect! That's great, control. Then we could go to the party, I'll text Bruce," reaching for her phone, there was still one other thing that had to happen for the chance of controlling their transformations.

"You do realize you're gonna have to swim to test this theory," saying it as though it wasn't painfully clear, there was a moment where Nat withdrew her hand.

"But I've been in the water," saying it nonchalantly, that wasn't all there was to it.

"Longer than five minutes," since Natasha was the only one who wasn't completely there about being a mermaid, she would also have to get into the water so the three of them could work on their transformation control together.

"What? Nevermind, forget it."

♤

"Come on, it's not even deep here. It'd just be dipping our toes into the water," seeing as though it was the shoreline, it meant there wouldn't be a chance of potentially drowning.

"No," the thought of being in the water with a tail in the first place was displeasing, but being in the water longer than five minutes? A definite longshot.

"Please, Natasha?" As it became obvious that her getting into the water wasn't going to happen, it left Bucky and Alexis to be the ones to get into the water.

"No," having her knees to her chest, both of them sighed before James looked at Alex.

"Fine, come on, Alex," both of them walked towards the water, getting to the shoreline first. "Control and discipline start with the mind, so concentrate." As the two stood side-by-side, he began chanting the words, "no tail," repeatedly.

With Alex joining in, the ten seconds before the transformation still happened, "no tail." The final time before both of them plopped into the water. Landing on her stomach, she flipped around and tried moving her tail outside of the water, but it was still heavy.

Seeing Bruce start to come over, both of them rushed to get behind the rocks. "Who leaked the information that this is my highly classified fishing spot?" Having a bouncy attitude, it was painfully noticeable that he didn't know the entire situation. "Someone must've blabbed."

"Sorry," with it being Natasha who apologized, Banner was quick to forgive.

"It's okay. I got your message about going to the party," now that Nat had changed her mind again, it felt more like Bruce was being strung along by a rope.

"Oh, that was an old message. I'm not going anymore, too much homework." Quickly thinking of some sort of excuse, she looked away with the intention of hoping the conversation wouldn't be brought up again.

"Fine, well, I might just join you all for a swim, then," as he was about to unbutton his shirt, there had to have been a way for them to stop him from getting in.

"We're naked, Bruce," odd as the idea sounded coming from Alex, it was enough to make him take a double-take.

"Maybe just a quick dip, then?" Somewhat wanting to get in the water still, Bruce knew better than to push the topic too far.

"Goodbye, Bruce," with it being Bucky who spoke, it meant that Alex was serious about the statement, even if it wasn't true.

"The offer was there, " grabbing his fishing gear, he walked away.

♤

"We're never going to be invited anywhere cool ever again. And why? Because we've got tails," seeing as though Nat was the one speaking, she grabbed a glass and poured water into it.

"My swimming career is over," watching as Bucky grabbed a cup and reached into the fridge to get orange juice, he also poured the liquid into a cup.

"I just have one question: why me? I didn't ask for any of this to happen?" As she finished speaking, Nat used her powers to levitate a small ball of water towards her mouth.

"You think you've got problems? I've been training to be a swimmer since I was six months old," putting a popsicle stick into the OJ, he used his power to freeze it, making it turn into an orange juice popsicle.

"Well you can say goodbye to that cause we're merfreaks now," seeing as though they weren't aware of what they were doing, Alex scoffed at that.

"You two are unbelievable, look at yourselves! You're drinking water from mid-air," looking at Nat when she said the sentence, she was planning on targeting Bucky next. "And Bucky? You just made an instant icy-pop. Anybody else would love to be able to do that. You both got these amazing powers and all you do is winge, winge, _winge._ I don't even have a power, do you hear me complaining?"

Seeing as though Nat shook her head as a response before looking down, it was clear how much the two were using their powers to their advantage without realizing it. "No. Well, I've had enough, I don't want to hang around with complainers," leaving the house, she closed the door behind her.

"I know how she feels, sometimes I don't even want to hang around with me."

♤

"Bruce, what do you think of Alexis?" Seeing as though Nat was the one that brought her up in conversation, it sounded genuine that she was asking for his opinion.

"You know those stonefish that kinda looks like a rock, that could shoot enough poison to kill an entire football team in half-a-second? She kinda reminds me of one of those." Trying to think of an answer similar to the one in his head, that was as close to the answer he could get.

Seeing Sam walk into the JuiceNet, everyone gave him a round of applause. "Thanks, guys, relax," being the one at the center of attention, it seemed as though Sam didn't want to be flattered.

"Congratulations, Sam. What's your ranking now? You must be getting up there," trying to show a sign of good faith, Stark was beside him, and judging by how annoyed he sounded, it explained the sour look on his face.

"Control yourself," scoffing off her words like it was nothing special, it looked as though Tony wasn't in the mood.

"Hey, Tony, you're dry. That must feel different," having a turn going at him, Stark walked towards Bruce with a somewhat brooding look in his eye.

"Look, Bruce. I don't know what happened with that fire hydrant, but if you so much as mention it again, I'll remove your head from your soldiers." Seeing as though it was a threat and Tony began to walk away, Banner stood up and grabbed his shoulder.

"Let it go, Bruce," having a fair idea of what was going to happen between the two, it seemed now was the best time to stop it from escalating further.

"She's right, it's not worth it. And will it change him? No," it seems as though that's all it took for the situation to de-escalate. With everyone going back to the way they were, Nat and Bruce sat back down at the table they were originally.

"Sam is such a nice guy. Bucky's right, we should go to Pepper's party to show some support for him. I mean, what a hero," sounding as though her mind had changed again, and with this being either the second or third time this has happened, Banner wasn't too up for the job.

"Great, then go." Not knowing whether her mind would change again, it made him realize that she was a puzzle.

"You think so?" Not realizing her actions just yet, he just sighed.

"Yeah, whatever blows your hair back. Nat, I don't get you, one minute you're going, the next you're not, and now you're going again," grabbing his bucket hat and the drink, he left the cafe.

♤

In the morning, James was sitting at the island in his house, eating breakfast as usual. His parents, George and Winnifred, opened the door from their jog. "Are you sure you can afford to miss training again?" His mom was concerned about why her son kept missing practice.

"Aren't the regionals coming up?" Hearing that question come from his dad also set a few things into place, especially about how he would usually train harder than what he would daily.

"You trained when you had the flu, even when you broke your wrist. You swam with one arm," remembering the one time when he was eleven, it made his mother question something, though his father went up the stairs regardless.

"If he's that bad, maybe he should see a doctor," pitching the idea as he got towards the last step, George tuned out the conversation and went to their bedroom.

"I don't need a doctor," taking a drink from his glass of orange juice, he set it down while his mother walked over to where he was.

"Hon, you've been spending an awful lot of time in the bedroom and locked up in the bathroom. Is there anything we need to talk about?" Trying to offer him a shoulder to lean on, he wasn't being emotionally open enough to accept his mother's gratitude.

"It's nothing, mom." Continuing to eat breakfast as though there was nothing mom, his mother was persistent.

"It's alright to feel moody, you're at an age where you're going through a lot of changes-," not wanting to hear the rest of the conversation, James grabbed the bowl and the glass before walking towards a different part of the house.

♤

"Hey, Pepper. I was just calling to let you know that I'll definitely be at your party," seeing as though there was a moment where Pepper said something on the end of the phone, Nat continued. "Well, I just thought I'd let you know. What will I be wearing? Something appropriate."

Ending the call after that, she set her phone down and picked up the bucket of water. Watching as the second hand ticked to 10, she proceeded. "Go," dumping the bucket of water over her head, she stepped out of the bathtub. "10, 9-," trying her best to quickly dry herself, she began counting down.

"8, 7, 6-," being quick about trying to dry herself off, she continued counting. "5, 4, 3, 2-," glancing at the clock, she felt the same tingling sensation before her tail began to form. "Aw," falling to the side from her uneven balanced, she sighed knowing there probably wasn't going to be a way to delay her transformation.

♤

Being in a booth at the JuiceNet, Alexis was sitting by herself, flipping through the menu. "Hey, Alex, can I sit?" Without having to look at the source of the voice, she raised her head.

"I certainly hope so, just not with me," seeing as though he sat down anyway, she put the menu to the side with the intention of looking over it when he left.

" I know we've had our differences," watching as the waitress came and served her the drink she ordered, Lewis glanced at her before focusing back on Alex. "Uhm, but I want to know what's wrong with Natasha."

"What makes you think there's anything wrong?" Shrugging her shoulders, knowing there were multiple things she didn't want to discuss with him, she kept her tolerance level high enough to have the conversation normally.

"Cause I've asked her if she wanted to go to Pepper's party, and she changes her mind every time." Saying the issue as if there wasn't anything wrong, there was another route that he possibly didn't consider.

"Maybe... she doesn't like you, did you think about that?" Sounding as sarcastic as ever, it wasn't clicking to Banner that she wanted to be alone.

"Yes, it actually did cross my mind. And then I thought,"oh no no, she hangs out with you, her standards must be pretty low." So I don't think it's that," as much as he wanted to figure out what the problem was, it didn't stop his persistancy.

"Goodbye, Bruce," looking away from him and towards the wall, she tapped her fingers against the table.

"No, can you tell me what's wrong with her or not?" 

"Not," as her level of annoyance began rising, it meant that she could only take so much of this before it would cause her to leave.

"Please? I know there is," ever the caring and considering type, Bruce still wanted to get answers, but he wasn't going to get them from Alex

"Look, I'm not even speaking to her at the moment, okay? I'm just trying to be alone right now, so if you could just..." unintentionally balling her hand into a fist, the soda at the table began bubbling, as well as smoke coming out from the top.

"What the-?" Going to grab it, he retracted his hand when he felt the temperature. "Ow, it's hot! Is this somebody's idea of a joke?"

♤

Walking along the beach, Alexis noticed there was a little pocket of water. Remembering what happened inside the JuiceNet, she got down on one knee and hovered her hand over the water.

Watching as it began to bubble, Al quickly looked around to make sure no one was near. Focusing her attention back onto the water, she slowly began to ball her hand into a fist, causing smoke to come out as a result.

Having a smile grow on her face, she wanted to talk to Bucky about this first, considering Natasha was too adamant about going to the party.

♤

"I'm glad you called. I'm sorry I was talking about all that negative stuff. I'm not normally like that, it's just that I was-," before James had a chance to ramble about how sorry he was, Alex cut his sentence short.

"Bucky, it's cool. I need to show you something," starting to walk towards the beach, she walked and he followed.

♤

"Okay, I'm officially curious. What'ddya want to show me?" Seeing as though both of them were propped up against the rocks with their tails, Alex was about to demonstrate, but there was a faint sound of footsteps.

"Is that you guys?" Hearing the voice, both of them turned to face Banner, who had his fishing gear again. "Are you naked again?"

"Uhm," trying to think of an answer, Al looked down to their tails before looking towards Bruce again. "We're just having a bit of a sensitive talk, Bruce." 

"Yes, but are you naked?" Seeing as though he was more straightforward about the situation, there was still one other thing they had to do.

"Go, Bruce, come back later," hoping Banner would listen to Bucky, it seemed as though that wasn't enough to get him to go.

"No, I'm here to fish. I'm having withdrawals, I need relaxation. If anyone's going, it's you guys." Having his mind set on the one thing he wanted to do, it didn't help that both of them were tails-out behind a rock.

"Don't push it, Bruce." Alex needed to make sure that he didn't overstep and find out what their secret was, especially considering how the situation was playing out.

"Shouldn't you be following Natasha around?" Seeing as though that was the first that usually came to mind, James wanted to know how come he wasn't doing that.

"No, no way, I'm totally over that, trust me. I don't know what's going on with her, she just can't make up her mind," hearing his phone go off, Bruce brought it close enough to his face to read the text. "You see what I mean? It's Nat, she's going to the party again. Give up."

"Bruce, you have to do us a favor: you have to make sure she doesn't go to the party on her own. Call her back," this was a dire situation: neither of them could run the risk of Natasha exposing their secret.

"No, no I'm here to fish," not wanting to put up with her at the moment, Bruce kept his mind set on fishing.

"Bruce, this is important, she could be in trouble." Having a more serious and demanding tone, Alexis wanted to make sure she couldn't run the risk of the secret being out.

"I am not some lackey. I'm not some all-purpose servant. Do you really think you can tell me what to do and I'll jump?" While he was speaking, he brought his phone to his face, calling her, though the line didn't pick up. "Her phone's off."

"She could be in big trouble, Bruce. You like her, don't you?" By the looks of things, they convinced him, even if he didn't want to admit it to himself.

"Well, in a friendship kind of way," picking up his fishing box, he walked off of the beach and towards land.

♤

Pepper opened the door to see Natasha, who was wearing this unnecessary get-up, not fitting the pool party standards at all. "It's a pool party, remember?" Having an obvious attitude, Pep wanted to hear whatever excuse she could come up with.

"I remembered, it's just I've got this terrible cold, so I won't be swimming. At all. So where's Sam?" Peering around in the house, he was looking for him to congratulate him.

"I'm sure he'll be here any minute. Are you really keeping that on?" Signaling to the fact that her only point of skin was her head, it made her stand out like a sore thumb.

"Oh yeah. You can't be too careful with a cold," there was an awkward silence before Natasha grabbed a tissue and faked a sneeze.

"Nat, I don't think it's a good idea that you're here. Sick people make me feel... sick," seeing as though it was one of her face backup friends who was at the door with her, she was also contributing to the conversation. "You should go."

"No, I'm fine. Really, it's nothing, I can still party," trying to keep an open mind about the entire situation there was still one other thing that needed to be set in stone.

"Whatever, just go outside and don't touch anything, don't try any drinks, better yet? Just stay away from everyone," as if purposefully isolating her away from the rest of the group, it still sounded fine to Nat.

"Okay," walking into the home, Pepper closed the door behind her.

"Loser."

Walking out towards the back, Natasha glanced across everything, being sure not to get too close to the water. "Look who's here, just when we wanted a bit of fun." Tony seemed like he didn't have enough fun the last time he tried getting her back.

"No, get back," she didn't want to get into the water, nor did she want to run the risk of being exposed. It was clear she was starting to regret coming here, she just didn't want to be vocal.

"Don't be like that, Natasha. You had a good laugh when I was got soaked last week, now it's your turn." Signaling to the pool with his head, he and a few of his friends began closing in on her.

"I have a cold, and I can't go in the water, it's the flu, actually, and it's contagious," backing away as Tony closed in on her, she noticed they were getting closer.

"Come on, swim time, you're going in."

"It could even be pneumonia," backing towards the edge of the water, it was becoming an issue of how close to the pool she was. 

"Bruce, I didn't think you were coming," Pepper noticed the fact he still had his fishing gear, probably showing the fact that he wasn't going to be here for long.

"Oh, y'know, I was just cruising by, thought I'd drop in," knowing he was on a tight schedule when it came to Natasha, he didn't want to be in the conversation for too long.

"What's with the fishing gear?" Considering this was a pool party, it was suspicious that he had fishing gear instead of swimming gear.

"Never leave home without it. Have you seen Natasha?"

"She's out 'round the pool spreading disease," walking away from the conversation, Bruce began to make his way there.

"No, stop, please!" Trying to get out of their grasp, her calls for help were being ignored by the group.

"What do you say, Brock? On three? One, two-," before they could go on, Bruce came around the corner.

"Let her go, Tony." Knowing what he was doing was wrong, it looked like there was no convincing him to stop him.

"If you say so," saying nothing else, they tossed her into the pool. Seeing as though Stark was the one enjoying this the most, he was the one who was being chewed out by Bruce.

"Do you have a brain?!"

"You told me to let her go, I let her go! Let's grab a drink, boys," seeing as though all of the party attendants went inside, it left only Natasha and Bruce.

"I'm so sorry about this," as apologetic as he was, there was still one _major_ problem that would come about within ten seconds.

"Bruce, there's something you should know," glancing at her wristwatch, she began the mental countdown.

"No, you don't have to say anything," seeing as though there was panic starting to creep in, it meant she didn't have much time.

"No, I think I do. You know how I've been acting strange lately?" While she was talking, the water around her began to bubble. "Don't freak out, but-," that tingling sensation kicked in, causing her two legs to turn into one mermaid tail. "Bruce, you have to help me."

The look of shock in his face wasn't minimal, it was enough to cause him to stumble back. This sort of thing wasn't normal to anyone, and considering he was mentally freaking out, it almost caused him to freeze up. "Bruce, don't leave me. I really need your help, please," extending a hand, she'd only hoped that he would take it.

Seeing the look in his eyes change from shock to determination, he grabbed her hand, causing her to feel relief. Bursting through the gates came Bucky and Alexis, who noticed Natasha in the pool with Bruce holding her hand.

"Where is everyone?" Seeing how dire the situation was, Alexis was the one asking, to which he looked up to her and away from Nat.

"They're inside," rushing over to the door, Bucky and Alex checked that everyone was inside. Extending his arm and twisting his wrist, it froze the lock on the door. After that, the two rushed back to where Nat and Bruce were. "Can you guys give me a hand? She weighs a ton."

Trying to pull her out of the water, there was a look exchanged between Bucky and Nat, followed by disappointment. "We can't," saying those two words caused him to look over at the two.

"If we get wet, we'll grow tails, too. Is that what you want?" Considering Alex was the one speaking, it showed how serious the situation was. Having a look on his face that looked like disbelief, his eyes darted between her and James.

"B-Both of you?" Getting a nod from Bucky proved that he had to do it. "All of you? Seriously?" Using his upper body strength to pull her out, which was something he didn't have much of, any of them knew how much time there was before the others would come out.

♤

As Tony was about to go outside, probably to taunt Natasha, he noticed the door wouldn't budge. "Who's locked the door?" 

"It's not locked," Pepper walked over to the door and pulled on the handle, though it didn't budge.

♤

Once she was fully out of the pool, and Bruce was out of energy, Nat propped herself up by her elbows. "Should've joined the gym," muttering the sentence to himself, he stayed behind her in case anything happened.

"What are we going to do?" Because she wasn't aware of Alex's power, and with no convenient towels, it caused there to be a major issue with how things were going to play out.

"Get back, Bruce," getting down on one knee again, Alex extended her arm out and hovered it above Nat's tail. Steam began to rise, almost sounding like something was sizzling.

"Ow, that stings," focusing on drying Nat, Alex waited until the smoke cleared and her legs were back to normal.

"There you go, steam-dried," brushing it off like it was nothing, she glanced up towards Nat's face.

"You found your power!" Sounding happy that Alex had a power like the others, it meant she wouldn't be alone with this sort of thing anymore.

"Guys, what is going on?" Bruce, as much as he tried to contain himself, his confusion was seeping out onto his face.

"We'll explain later, Bruce," Bucky quickly helped Nat off the ground, showing that they had to get out of there soon. Running towards the gate, Alex debated something in her head. "Alex, come on!"

Curling her hand into a fist while she looked towards the water, steam began to rise, just to the point of it clouding most of the air. "Never liked pool parties anyway," rushing away with a smirk on her face, none of them looked back.

When Tony, Pepper, and the others finally got outside, the smoke dissipated. "What is going on?!"

"You should really check your heating system," everyone was flabbergasted, including Tony.

♤

Rushing away from the party, Bruce watched Sam rush towards the shore. "Hey, Sam!"

"Hey, guys," about to get into the water, Sam stopped in his tracks for a moment.

"Why weren't you at the party?" Buck asked the question, though it was clear he probably didn't know what was being referred to. "The party Pepper's throwing for you?"

"Pepper, she's the blonde one, right? Parties aren't my thing, I'll see you guys later," continuing to get to the beach, all of them were surprised.

"Nice board," that was the one thing James took away from the situation, probably because he didn't want to focus on that right now.

"Nice pecs," Natasha went next for saying something about him, specifically about his chest.

"Nice attitude," with that, the three of them walked towards the beach.

♤

"This probably goes without saying, but if you tell, we'll maim you," hearing as though it was Alex who was threatening him, and the first one to break the ice, she was definitely the type to speak freely.

"I'm not that stupid. If anyone found out, you'd end up as science experiments," after Bruce responded, there was a bit of silence other than the crashing waves against the rocks.

"I quit the swim team today," because swimming was his entire life, it meant that he had to cut off one part of himself to grow another.

"Oh, Bucky, I know how much that meant to you," having a sympathetic tone of voice, Nat was expressing her feelings towards his situation.

"Still, what could I do?" Referring to the merman tail he had, there wasn't a way for him to continue being on the swim team without being found out.

"This whole thing is out of control, it's just too weird," resting her arms on her knees, Nat sighed.

"Wait, let me get this straight: you freeze things," talking to James first, it caused him to grow a small smile on his face. "You explode things," signaling to Natasha next, she chuckled. "And you boil things." Speaking to Alex this time, there was still a look of shocked disbelief in his eyes. "And you all grow tails. It's just too bizarre."

"Bizarre? Yep, still, sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not," Bucky was the one talking, which he looked towards Alex.

"It's... I don't know the word for it," trying to place a word for the name, Nat was trying to think of something.

"I do, three of them: totally, absolutely awesome."


	4. 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 ; CATCH OF THE DAY

♤

At night, in Nat's home, Jo, her mother, and her father, Ivan, were watching TV while she was upstairs. On the TV was a shark documentary, in which Jo showed a mix between boredom and interest. "Nasty, you don't want to mess with one of those."

"Have you ever seen a great white, dad?" Lifting her head from her hand, Jo looked over to her dad, the only other one watching the documentary.

"Only once, took half my catch for the day and shredded my net. You don't mess with them, they'll rip you to bits. Tiny bits, little teeny-weeny bits," trying to put more emphasis on how the encounter would go, Alexis walked from behind the counter.

"Jo, Jo!" Whispering it loud enough for her to hear, their father was still focused on the TV. Walking behind the counter to the other side of the wall, she stopped when she got in front of the sink. "Uh, the dishes."

"Ten dollars," having a smirk on her face, she had enough confidence that it threw Alex off.

"What? You only charged five last time," thinking the price wouldn't change, there was a bit of an issue when it came to the charge to do the dishes. Though she couldn't share with her sister the reason why she couldn't do the dishes, it didn't stop the fact that the price was only going to increase as time moved on.

"You want me to keep on doing your chores? Well, my price has gone up. Besides, I want to watch TV, ten dollars," it wasn't something they could argue on, though she couldn't run the risk of always popping a tail because she was doing the dishes.

"No, no way," she wasn't willing to pay her sister that much for one task, it sounded ridiculous. She could always find a way to find another way around it... right?

"What's up with you anyway? I know you're not fond of water, but this is ridiculous," glancing between the sink and her older sister, it was clear she wanted to figure out what changed overnight.

"Fine, ten, I'll pay you later," almost slamming the rag onto Jo's chest, she walked away from behind the counter.

"Alex, come check this out! This is the best part," glancing over to the TV, she was confused by what's on the TV. "Feeding frenzy," he had some sort of vocal optimism, which was weird and creepy by itself.

"How could you even watch this stuff?" Crossing her arms once again, she walked away and towards her own room. It was clear her attitude showed it grossed her out.

♤

By morning, she and Bucky were out in the water, swimming side by side. Glancing at the different wildlife, it was clear they were having a good time. Moving in sync with one another, they had smiles on their face, either from habit or from them enjoying their time.

♤

"You won't believe it." Tracking Bruce's movements, he was the one who brought them their drinks before sitting down. "We timed ourselves and guess how long we can hold our breath for? Fifteen minutes," having a hand out to high-five, Bucky was the one to brag while Alex high-fived him in return.

"That's impressive," having a look of interest on his face, Bruce glanced between the two.

"Yep, it's pretty cool," having a look of confidence in her eyes, there was a moment where both of them remembered what it was like to be in the ocean.

"I bet we could stay down longer if we really tried," disclosing the words as if it was nothing, Alex glanced over to him with a challenging look in her eyes.

"Oh, you're on," it was playful banter between the two, but it was also serious enough that they were going to try it out later.

"You think you can beat me?" Having sheer confidence in his voice, he was showing off his swimming skills, which didn't help the fact that he had more experience in holding his breath than Alexis did.

"I know I can, bring it on!"

"You guys must be jumping out of your skin about this stuff!" Having a voice of enthusiasm, the three of them knew to keep it down to avoid having the secret being spilled. Bruce was the one who was talking and considering it was low, it made sure no one else could hear.

Nodding, there was a second where Alex had to think about the situation in full. "Yeah, well two of us are," remembering the fact that Natasha wasn't over the top about the idea of being a mermaid raised a lot of concerns for her.

"Hey, Natasha! Guess what? These guys can hold their breaths for fifteen minutes!" Completely disregarding the whole thing about talking silently, there was a bit of concern.

"Bruce!" Of all things to start the conversation with, mentioning the things about being a merperson wasn't the best way to go.

"What's going on?" Oblivious to the full conversation, Nat sat down and adjusted her position in the meantime.

"We've been, y'know, swimming," trailing around the topic, hoping either one of them could convince her to get into the water longer than five minutes.

"It's the best thing, the reef is out of this world," now that Alex was talking after Bruce, both of them hoped it was enough to convince her fully, but it seemed like it wasn't working.

"That's great," obviously being uncomfortable with the topic, Nat shifted around in her chair. "So, has anyone been able to finish that calculus homework? Question 7's a nightmare," immediately picking up on the signs she was avoiding the topic, Al's smile dropped.

"Where were you this morning? You weren't picking up your phone," Bucky responded to her words as if she wasn't avoiding the topic.

"And that project on geography? We really need to get together on that one," now both of them were picking up on her actions, which was pointless.

"Listen, Natasha. Whatever's happened to us is incredible. You've got to come out with us, the water is amazing," Alex was the one speaking directly on the situation, though Nat's face only showed how uncomfortable she was on the topic.

"I'm not doing it, okay? I didn't ask for any of this to happen to us, so stop bugging me about it, alright?" Getting up from her seat, she walked away from the JuiceNet and back home.

♤

"Hey, Natasha," Sam rushed towards her side, more of a friendly action than anything else. "You've got to come down to the beach," trying to have a casual invitation, but with everything going on about her being a mermaid, which was something she wasn't quite ready to accept, it made things more difficult in life.

"Why? Why does _everyone_ want me to come down to the beach?" Walking away, rather than speeding up her footsteps, it was obvious the entire situation was getting to her.

"Hey, chill, alright?" Still wanting to talk to her, Sam caught up to her within a jogging pace.

"Sorry, I'm just a bit tense, what's going on?" Easing up, the two turned the corner into the locker hall.

"I saw the first of the season's turtles laying eggs this morning at the beach. It was amazing," down-to-earth as he was, he had a voice of relaxation but also wonder.

"Oh wow, that's wonderful!" Hearing the great news, she wasn't aware of the "but" following his words.

"Yeah, but I heard a rumor that one of the turtles got caught in a fishing net heading back out to sea," though his demeanor never changed, his tone of voice did.

"Oh, poor little thing," having sympathy for the situation, the two stopped at her locker.

"I'll see you later," walking away from the conversation, Sam walked away while Natasha opened her locker. Bruce walked over, seeing as though she was alone.

"Hey, Nat, do you wanna go hang out at the mall later?" Attempting to make small talks, she was still adamant about the whole 'tail' situation.

"Busy, sorry."

"Nat, look, I know these recent developments have hit you pretty hard, but you can't hide forever. Just because you're a," glancing around so no one could hear the next word, he whispered, "mermaid-," before he had a chance to say anything else about the situation, Natasha was quick to intervene.

"I'm not one of those things! I've never liked the water and I never will," lifting her back off of the wall, she began walking away from the conversation.

"What're you gonna do? Hide from water for the rest of your life?" The conversation was over, that much was clear, but there was still the issue of her needing to adapt to everything.

♤

Walking out of the classroom, Alexis followed Bucky out, to which he turned around to face her to have a conversation. Seeing as though Bruce joined up with the two, it was clear what happened. "She bummed out, right?"

"She's just taking a little bit of time to- yeah, she bummed out," knowing that thinking of an excuse wasn't going to do anyone good, he cut to the chase quick. At the top of the stairs, however, stood Natasha, having a bit of an uncomfortable stance.

"I am pretty sure she doesn't want to talk about it," turning to face the others, Bucky sighed before resting a hand on Bruce's shoulder.

"Forget it, Bruce, we can deal with this, it's a mer thing," from there, he walked between the two before being followed up the stairs by Alex. "Nat, about this whole mermaid business," about to continue the conversation, Natasha didn't want to talk about it.

"There are more important things in life than seeing how long you can hold your breath for and frolick with the dolphins," glancing between the two while speaking, she crossed her hands over her stomach.

"I don't frolick, I glide," correcting her words, Alex focused more on what Buck was saying, not so much about what Nat was saying as a rebuttal.

"Whatever, it's not important. I don't want to talk about it."

"How can you say that? This is the most amazing thing that's ever happened to us. Probably the most amazing thing that's ever happened to anyone." Still trying to change her perspective on the moment, it was clear she was trying to think of another excuse.

"Well, what about the turtles?" Shifting her eyebrows in confusion, Alex looked to Bucky, who was just as lost as she was.

"Turtles?" Not knowing what was being referenced here, he asked the question in hopes of getting clarification.

"Apparently, a sea turtle got caught in a fishing net this morning. _That's_ important," hearing her words caused Al to rub the bridge of her nose with two fingers.

"I can't believe you! You're such a hypocrite," hearing her words didn't make any sense, confusion seeped onto Natasha's face.

"Why?"

"Nat, your dad's a fisherman. His nets are the ones trapping the turtles."

"That's not true, my dad would never do that." Walking away from the conversation as she always does, it left Alex and Bucky on the stairs.

♤

"Natasha, coffee!" Having two cups of steaming coffee in his hand, he signaled her to come over and sit with him. Setting one cup down in front of the other chair, he sat down while Natasha walked over before sitting in the other seat.

"Dad, have you ever caught any sea turtles?" It was a weird question to ask, especially coming from her.

"What kind of a question is that?" It wasn't giving him a good rep that he was avoiding the conversation.

"It's simple, have you ever caught a turtle in one of your fishing nets?" Not picking up the cup yet, she was more focused on the conversation than on the drink.

"Natasha, you know me: I do what's right, okay?"

"That's not an answer," she needed a simple yes or no, and by the sounds of it, she didn't know whether this was a solid yes or a solid no.

"We do everything by the book. We have nets with grids in them, if a turtle comes in, it's directed to an opening. Plus, we fish miles away from the nesting beaches." Taking another drink of his coffee, he knew better than to fish in the no-fishing areas.

"Well, some of the turtles are still getting caught."

"Well, not by me, or any of the fishermen doing the right thing." Rubbing a hand on her back as comfort, she just looked down, hoping there would be more clarification.

♤

Out on the water, a boat was lowering nets into the water and set them in. Bucky and Alex were speeding, to which both of them stopped in a general location. Their happy-go-lucky mood was stopped when they noticed the nets in the water.

Tapping Alex's shoulder, he signaled to the turtle caught in the net. There was a moment where she stopped, trying to think of what to do. _"Come on, Jake, we won't meet quota if we don't move it."_ A voice was overheard, which meant something was going on.

Jake, the person cutting some of the lines, set his switchblade down before walking inside. This gave Alex enough of a chance to quickly lift out of the water, grab said switchblade, and get back into the water in time.

Getting back into the water, she cut a hole large enough to help the turtle out. Returning the switchblade back, the two smiled before she signaled them to swim away.

♤

 _"Local fishermen today have been confronted with a possible menace from the deep. Commercial fishermen have reported incidents that may involve a rogue shark. They were lucky to escape injury..."_ the TV sound was starting to be dulled out, especially when Natasha came into the building.

"Hey, guys, what's going on?" As oblivious to the situation as ever, she set her bag down and sat beside Bucky and Alex, who were looking at the TV before glancing over to the redhead.

"Hey, Natasha, your dad's on TV," Sam's voice was the one thing that caught her attention, causing her to look over to the TV.

_"I've fished these waters for a long time, and there's only one thing that causes damage like that: a huge, rogue shark."_

"Poor Dad," feeling sympathy for the situation, she still focused on the TV.

"Sorry to have to tell you this, Nat, but your dad didn't catch a shark, it was a turtle. We cut the net to set it free," speaking with a soft voice, it was Alex's way to try to break the news lightly.

"No way, my dad wouldn't catch turtles," still in denial about the entire thing, she glanced between Bucky, hoping he'd say otherwise.

"It's true, Cleo, I'm sorry."

♤

Walking the pier, Natasha made her way to her father's boat, hoping to see whether he was being truthful or not. She didn't know whose side to believe, but she wanted to hear about it from her dad. "Natasha, haven't seen you down here for ages. Did you see me on TV? Did I look okay? How about that shark?"

With her arms crossed and a serious look on her face, she didn't respond to any of his witty comments. "You don't really know what gets caught in your nets, do you?"

"Is this about that turtle thing again?" It sounded like he was in disbelief about her grilling him, but there was something else she hadn't considered.

"Yes," being straightforward with the entire thing, she never looked away from him to see what he was doing.

"Listen, Natasha, we use the right nets and we fish in the right places. It's the law, and we don't break it," Ivan sounded like a broken record at this point.

"I'm really disappointed in you, dad," getting off of his boat, she walked away, though she passed one of her dad's crewmates in the process.

"Boss, I didn't know you were back," stepping onto the boat as he spoke, he walked close enough that it was within normal talking distance.

"It's starting to look like I shouldn't go away," continuing to fix something in his hand, Ivan glanced between Eddie and the objects he held.

"Sorry I lost half the catch," as if an apology was supposed to get him out of being under investigation, he sounded more like he was attempting to reason with him.

"Well, no one could predict a shark attack, Eddie, not even me." Ivan's suspicions began to rise even more, just to the point where he had a feeling he'd need to keep a better eye on his crewmates.

"The net was shredded," using another excuse to try to get out of the spotlight, he kept in the same place, knowing better than to test him at the moment.

"Where is that net, Eddie?" Stopping what he was doing in his hands, he glanced up and never looked away again.

"I dumped it, what's the point of keeping a wrecked net?"

♤

"He denied everything, it's really awful." Sitting down at the booth with Bucky and Alex, she rested her head in her hand. " 'I know you're lying dad, my mermaid friends saw you fishing close to the nesting beach.' "

"He was using illegal nets, too," finally bringing light to that part of the situation, Alex spoke in an iffy voice that hoped it wouldn't cause the reaction she expected.

"It's true, and they didn't have those grid things in them," Bucky spoke up about one other thing, one which had a lot of significance to the conversation.

"This just gets worse and worse, my dad-," as Natasha was about to go on, Al interrupted her again.

"To be honest, we didn't actually see your dad."

"But it was his boat, right?" Getting a nod of an answer made her feel like crap knowing she couldn't do much about the situation. All of the signs pointed to him, which wasn't a good thing.

♤

Out on the pier again, Bucky and Alex kept close to one another. "Right, every fisherman on this side of the planet is getting psyched to catch that stupid shark." As Alex was about to continue, there was a person, specifically Eddie, who interjected.

"Shark? Don't you worry, if it's still out there, it's sushi," holding his hook next to his face, it caused one of them to have a confused expression while the other didn't care enough.

"What a circus. They'll be searching everywhere." Bucky knew what would've happened if they went out, or a chance of what would've gone on.

"Wanna go for a swim?" Throwing the question out there, Alex hoped it wouldn't be answered the way she thought it would be answered.

"No way, too dangerous with these guys out there. Let's face it: until things cool down, we're grounded."

♤

"I know what you're thinking," Bruce noticed Natasha was standing alone, specifically leaning against a column and looking out to the marina. "Bucky and Alex told me about your dad."

"Great, so now the whole world knows my dad's a criminal." She needed help, especially because of where the situation put her, she wanted to see if her friend could help her. "What would you do, Bruce?"

"I'd change my name and move to the country, but that's just me." Cracking a bit of a joke, he'd hoped it would take her mind off of everything.

"You're no help," resting her head against the column, it was noticeable that her mind was torn about multiple things, not just her father.

"I know, but at least it takes your mind off the whole mermaid thing," bringing up her other 'issue' only made the situation worse, which didn't help anyone.

"Okay, I'm scared of it. Is that what you wanted to hear?" As much as this self-reflection was needed, she didn't want to face the music.

"Nat, everyone's scared of something. You- you're amazing, you can do anything." Realizing how strong she was, with and without her powers, it made him realize how much has changed.

"Just because I've got these powers, it doesn't mean I'm amazing." Walking away from the conversation, Nat didn't turn around to face him, just went home.

"I didn't mean the powers," leaving him there by himself, he sighed before beginning to walk back to his own home.

♤

"Are you going to catch that shark tomorrow, dad?" Jo asked the general question to her father while Natasha remained silent.

"Maybe, the council's put out a bounty. Everyone's going to be looking for it. If we run into it, we'll pick it up." Ivan walked over to the table and sat the main platter down, which was an assortment of cut-up fish.

"What's the matter, Natasha?" Her mother asked, knowing there was a difference in her attitude today.

"I'm not hungry." Nat brushed over her answer like it was nothing, though she still didn't know what to believe. The fact that her dinner had fish didn't help, it made it worse.

"It's fish, come on, eat," sounding more like it was lightly forcing her to eat, she didn't want to say much or eat dinner with her family. Ivan didn't see what was wrong, which was the problem.

"As I said, I'm not hungry," having a more sneering attitude to her father's words, Natasha's eyes darted between her mother and her father.

"I caught it this morning, fresh from the Esmeralda."

"The Esmeralda? I thought you were on your own boat this morning?" Hearing those words caused her to look at her father with a bit of confusion, but there was some hope laced into it as well.

"When you run three boats, you gotta be flexible. Gus is in the hospital, I'm skippering the Esmeralda until he's back on deck." Saying his answer as if it weren't a problem, he began getting food from the different plates to form into his own.

"So you weren't on your own boat this morning?" Needing more clarification, it meant that she was right: her father wouldn't fish that close to the nesting beaches.

"I just explained."

"So you don't really know what it's been catching or where it's been fishing." Hoping that what she was hearing was correct, it sounded like whoever was temporarily in charge of his boat was the one framing him.

"Eddie's skippering for me, I trust his judgment, he wouldn't do anything wrong." Nat was going to remember the name, all she had to do now was catch him in the act.

♤

"Hurry up, I don't want to be the last one to leave again. We're gonna make up for the catch we lost yesterday, so we've got a big day ahead of us, so cast off. We're heading for Patterson's beach," Eddie stepped up the stairs and went to where Johnny was, talking with a type of tyrannical and abusive power.

"Patterson's beach is a no-go zone," Jack knew about what went on over there, which didn't help the fact that Eddie wasn't going to change his mind about where to fish.

"I'm using the old nets, too, Johnny. You got an opinion on that?" Having a snarky attitude, he was about to dip back inside, but the other crewmate wasn't done talking to him.

"Yeah, the boss won't want that," Johnny knew about what would happen if they did this, let alone if they got caught.

"There's only one boss on this boat, and that's me. Be quiet and do your job," taking away from the water, Natasha got up from hiding behind the box, which caught Bruce's attention. He had his fishing gear in hand, which made him wonder what she was doing over on the marina.

"Natasha, what are you doing here?" Pointing to the boat, she couldn't form any words, probably because of the bubbling feeling of anger and resentment building up. "They're using the wrong nets and going to the wrong place. Yes, I'm going to stop them, go and tell the others."

"What?" Not sure if he heard her correctly, Banner needed more clarification on the moment and what she was talking about.

"Just go," there was a sudden sound of water splashing, causing Bruce to turn around in confusion.

"Natasha? Oh great," seeing the remnants of the water bubbles from where she jumped in the water, he rushed away to get the others.

She was in the water struggling before realizing it's not so bad after all. Glancing down to her tail, she loosely flapped it around a bit, finally acknowledging its presence before coming up to the surface.

♤

"Right, no one slacks off today, keep an eye on that shark," Eddie was the one making orders as they continued to sail out to sea, making sure his words were getting through to everyone.

"Yeah, the shark's the least of your problems," Johnny muttered it loud enough that Eddie could hear, but it seemed as though his sarcasm only angered him farther.

"Anymore lip from you, Johnny, you won't have a job, got it?" Threatening his position caused John to be quiet, but his morals told him to not follow through. Unfortunately, he was already on the ship, so he couldn't walk off so easily.

As the nets being lowered into the water, Johnny looked out to see a turtle's head crown above the water. Though the sight was beautiful, it meant they had to leave. It was bad enough they were fishing here, but with active turtles in the water, they were going to get in trouble.

"Hey, there are turtles out there," Johnny decided to point it out by going towards where Eddie was, hoping he'd change his mind.

"Yeah, so?" Eddie peered out to the parts of the ocean he could see, not caring about whatever was in the water.

"So, you can't fish here, it's illegal. Ivan will have your guts." Wanting to warn his colleague though it didn't do anything, it made him feel like he was talking to a brick wall.

"Only if he finds out," not caring about the words going into his ear, he continued looking around in hopes he could find the shark.

"You're playing a dangerous game, Eddie," something popped up on sonar, something neither of them recognized. The terrible thing about it: it's Natasha swimming in the water, which both of them knew was too big to be a turtle.

"Look at that, it's not a turtle, I'm going about. Looks more like that shark, get ready, I don't want to lose it again." Eddie began barking orders again, to which no one had a choice but to listen, regardless of how unethical it was.

In the water, Nat saw the net and tried swimming away, but her tail gets caught, which she struggled to get out of. Unfortunately, her efforts only cost her energy and air, which made her stop to preserve her remaining energy.

♤

"Guys, guys! Natasha," out of breath, Bruce rushes into Bucky's house in hopes he'd see Bucky and Alex there.

"Well, where is she?" Bucky could tell the scene was urgent, but Banner was struggling to get his words out of his mouth.

"She's... she's in the water," Bruce was still needing to catch his breath, showing how out of shape he was.

"At last!" Alex tried forcing the rest of the sentence out, but it wasn't doing anything. He was still stuttering on his words, "Bruce, speak like a normal person." Rushing out of the door, Bucky and Alex followed.

♤

Above the water, Johnny looked at the net, seeing something in the net, which was what he thought the shark was. "Eddie, you got it secured, shark's in the net." Not stepping into the sailing deck, he spoke loud enough that his words would be heard.

"Get it up before it rips that net to pieces, it's not getting away this time," Eddie announced another order, which caused Johnny to walk over to the machine that reeled in the netting. The machine starts running to get her out of the water, while Bucky and Alex speed over to where she is.

Alex tries pulling the net off, Bucky swims away then stops when close enough to the boat, and freezes the roping system, buying them enough time to get Natasha out of the netting. Both boys scramble in hopes they could get an understanding of what was going on.

Bucky swims back to where the others are and helped get the net off. Struggling, however, it didn't take them long before they got it off completely., but when they do, the three go to the surface.

"You okay?" Bucky was the first one to ask the question, which the three of them used their tails to keep them afloat.

"Yeah, I panicked! I didn't know you could hold your breath for so long. Then I remembered what you guys said, and you know what? I lost count at six and a half minutes." Natasha had a look of happiness in her eye, probably because this time, she wasn't so scared of water.

"Later, guys," all three of them went down in the water to make sure they weren't going to be seen.

♤

Out on the pier again, this time it being later in the day, Ivan was on his boat, getting things ready and set for the next day. "Natasha, something wrong?" He noticed the look on his daughter's face, causing him to walk over to the edge of the boat beside the docks.

"Dad, I have to tell you something, and you're not going to like it?" Nat knew to tell her father about the incident so he could handle it responsibly.

"You got rid of the net?" Eddie shouted to Johnny, knowing he couldn't risk his job, especially after what happened out on the nesting beach.

"What net, Eddie? Didn't you hear me, Eddie? I said what net?" Ivan had more of a sneering attitude, and he wanted to know whether what his daughter said was true or not.

"The net that..." Trying to think of an answer, Eddie went quiet, knowing he was probably going to lose his job at this rate.

"John-o, why don't you tell me what's been going on?" He called over one of his other workers, hoping he wouldn't lie about what happened out near the nesting beach.

"Happy to, boss." Johnny waited a moment before beginning to talk about what happened earlier.

♤

"I fired him. I trusted Eddie, and he broke every rule in the book, I couldn't keep him on after that." Sitting at the table while Jo, Natasha, and her mom were setting the food onto the table.

"You're so tough, dad," Jo gave him a compliment, which wasn't uncommon, but it was more of a statement than a compliment itself.

"The turtles will thank you for that," Nat set one of the plates down in front of him before walking back towards the counter to get more things to set on the plate.

"How did you know he was using the wrong nets and fishing in the wrong area?" It was boggling his mind how his daughter knew about the illegal fishing incident before he did.

"I heard a whisper. Full of mystery, the sea, right dad?" Brushing off the question, she stood behind him when she set the empty plate in front of him.

"Yeah, sure."

"I'm sorry for doubting you, dad," phone call with Bruce. "Bruce, yeah, look... Tomorrow morning, there's something I want to show you." Growing a small smile on her face, she wanted to show him that she was getting more and more comfortable with the whole mermaid thing.

♤

Beach, Bruce uncovers eggs, Bruce, Alex, Nat walk over. "Guys, look! Turtle eggs," watching as the others came over, he glanced from the eggs and towards the teenage group.

"Aww, little turtles are so cute. I hope they all make it," kneeling down to get a better look at the eggs, Natasha had a sympathetic voice.

"So you want to show me something?" Bruce didn't know what was going on, but an idea was starting to form from the bags that had their towels inside.

"Yes, I do, you ready?" rushing over to the breach, they set their things down and rushed into the water.

"Cool."


	5. 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 ; PARTY GIRLS

♤

Being out on the water, Bruce had a science book in his hand, one over merpeople. Hearing his phone ring, he put the book in his lap and answered. "Hello? Just a second, it's for you," holding the phone over the water, Bucky surfaced and took the phone, hovering it near his ear.

"So have you decided what time for the party tonight?" Natasha asked Bucky, hoping she'd know what time to get ready. "Bucky, this is a tradition we're talking about," while the two were talking, Alexis was putting the fish into the bucket.

"I know, but I just don't see how I can have the party this year, not with recent developments." Hearing the other side of the call, a tone of confusion rose. "Your new job? The dolphin tank, at the marine park."

"The what?" Hearing what the conversation was about, Bruce glanced up from his book and to James.

"Yes, of course, the tank is full of water, they're aquatic mammals. Yes, I do remember what water does to me, but I will not let that ruin my life. Look, I really wanna make this work," seeing as though her boss walked into the room, she had to end the call quickly.

"Uh, Natasha," speaking in a soft voice, her boss gave her a hurrying smile before leaving the room.

"I've gotta go," ending the call, she put her phone into her pocket before making sure her gloves were on to her elbows. Grabbing the buckets by her hands, she had an apron on to help avoid most of the water she would've gotten sprayed with.

"Nat, are you all right?" Referring to the gloves on her arms, she just smiled in response, seeing as though it was going to be a long day at work.

"Yep! Ready when you are," following her out of the room, she kept the buckets enough of a distance from her body.

Focusing back on Bruce and Bucky, when the call ended, Bucky handed the phone back to Bruce. "She can be so stubborn sometimes," there was a bit of silence between the two before he noticed the book in his hand. "So, do you really think that's gonna tell us something useful?"

"It's already told me you guys are hotter than your average mermaids and mermen, and they don't have cool water powers." Having a playful attitude, he glanced back to the book.

"There's only one place where we'll find answers to why we became what we are," glancing over to Mako Island, which wasn't a far distance, Bruce thought that to be an invitation. "That's where it happened, that's where the answers are."

"Alright, well I'll just pull up my line, and-," about to continue, James cut him off.

"No, not you, Bruce. I'm faster on my own," this was more of a self-searching sort of thing, so having outsiders wouldn't be the best idea.

"Are you really sure that's a good-," he swims away. "idea." Leaving him out there by himself, Bruce pulled up the line from his boat.

Taking a deep breath, Natasha walked over to the shore of the dolphin tank and grabbed a fish before tossing it to a dolphin in the water.

While Bucky was in the water, he encountered two dolphins. Hearing their click tones, they circled him in the water before he swam with one of them. Passing one by as he swam into the moon pool, something silver caught his eye at the bottom of the pool.

Picking it up, he swam to the surface before propping himself on a rock to get a better look at it.

♤

While the noon dolphin show was performing, Nat went into the back and grabbed two buckets of fish. Making sure to not spill any on her, she walked out to where the crowd could see her. Meeting up with a worker, she handed them the buckets.

All the while, there was a person in the crowd, one that got up from their seat and away from the dolphin show. Natasha was transferring the fish from the ice cooler to the bucket for when they ran out. Plopping a fish into the bucket, caused a splash, getting her wet.

Reaching for the towel, it was damp. "Try this," a dry towel was tossed at her, which she accepted and dried herself off. "Timed well, wouldn't you say?" The man was peculiar, not just about how he'd gotten to this part, but also his attitude.

"Oh, yeah, thanks," wiping away any remaining water, she felt slightly uncomfortable. "Nearly got salt water in my eye," hoping the conversation would end soon so she could get back to work. "It would've stung."

"It does sting, doesn't it? But now when you're actually underwater. Why is that, I wonder?" Not only did she felt uncomfortable, she wondered if the man knew about her secret already.

"I don't know," having some sort of odd feeling from him, she was hoping the conversation would end quickly.

"Lot's of things are a mystery. Still, you've got time to learn. Staying dry, that's the big one," from the sound of his voice, he knew about her, or he had his suspicions. It wasn't clear, but it sounded like some potentially helpful advice.

"Natasha," glancing over to her boss, she nodded before looking toward the man again. This time, he vanished, which made her wonder a lot of things about him.

♤

Sitting on the bed with Bucky and Alexis, Bruce examined the locket in his hand. "Looks like a normal necklace to me," he handed it back to the teenage brunette, not seeing anything suspicious.

"Whatever was in it is long gone, but I found it at the bottom of the moon pool. It's gotta be important," he didn't know what was going on surrounding the locket.

"Maybe there are some earrings that are supposed to match," Alex had a rather sarcastic tone while she was mindlessly painting her toenails.

"I'm just trying to find answers, here," Bucky sounded defensive in the conversation as if it wasn't the only thing on his mind.

"Settle, guys. Bucky, it still doesn't explain why you guys are mermen and mermaids." Bruce set the book down, peeking between the two while he talked.

"See?" Alex knew the book wouldn't have jack about them, that much was clear. Maybe it was because she was a pessimist, but it wouldn't do much.

"However, I think I've just about figured out which liquids won't turn you into fish." Bruce suddenly sprayed Alex with something in one of his squirt bottles.

"Bruce! What are you- do you think you're funny? What is this stuff?" Getting a whiff, she didn't know what the liquid was, which was why she stayed still, expecting to transform into a mermaid.

"...4, 3, 2, 1." Nothing happens, which made her look at Bruce in confusion. "Mostly vegetable oil, no change." Writing those words in his notebook, Alex grabbed a towel and wiped off the oil from her skin.

"I really don't think so, mom. Okay, love you," ending the call, Buck set his phone down, paying attention to the conversation again.

"Is that the party again?" He asked nonchalantly, but Al heard what they were talking about, even if she didn't know.

"Party?" Perking up at the conversation, she glanced between the two, hoping for extra clarification.

"Every year, my mom throws this party for me, only this year, it's not happening. Can't have heaps of people, and drinks spilling, and tails appearing." Bucky ran through some potential problems with having a sleepover with a bunch of his friends from school.

"When was this party supposed to be?" Going back to paint her nails, she wanted to know when it would've gone down. Maybe it was curiosity, maybe it was wonder, but the conversation piqued her interest.

"Tonight," Bucky spun his phone in hand, glancing at the back of Alex's head while talking, knowing the message was getting across.

"Tonight? I hope I would've been invited." Guessing her message was getting across, Alex had an innocent tone while speaking.

"It's not really your scene," teasing the situation, Bucky had a look on his face that showed he was teasing her.

"Party? Me? Those words are welded together," she pretends to take a moment. "Oh, I get it, you don't want me there," painting her toenails while speaking, she wanted to know if he was being genuine or not. "Is that it?"

"Of course I do," denying any chance of that being the reason, James denied the thought.

"So the party's on?" Bruce wasn't sure of what it meant in the situation, but either they were having the party or they weren't.

"Pity, it would've been great. Boys, dancing... boys." Brushing over the topic once more, she moved her body in a so-so position.

"It's not really that type of party, Alexis," Bucky needed to clarify the type of party, as well as the reason why it wouldn't suit her style.

"What do you mean?" Not catching onto what the conversation was about, she stopped painting her toenails and looked between Bruce and Bucky for an answer.

"It's a sleepover," Bruce sprays them with something, catching them both off guard.

"Bruce!" Bucky quickly wipes away any of the substance from his arm. A smirk on Alex's face formed, to which she stopped painting her toenails and closed the nail polish.

"So a sleepover? Wow, that is so neat! I wish I hadn't had painted my nails, we could've painted them together. Then we could've had a pillow fight, and play with each other's..." her lower half transformed into a mermaid tail, which she used her arms to prop herself up. "hair."

"That one had a 32% water content," Bruce wrote it down in his notebook, conducting a small experiment while talking with the two.

"You okay?" Bucky was mocking her, and he had a smirk on his face while doing so.

"I'm fine, thank you, Bruce." Having a fake smile plastered, she balled her hand into a fist, causing steam to rise from underneath.

♤

All three of them were at the JuiceNet. Nat was inside the booth on the same side as Alex, and Bucky was on the other side. "He knows something, like what?"

"I don't know, but he knew it was dangerous for me to get water on myself." Natasha kept her voice down so it wouldn't draw suspicion to the three.

"You got water on yourself? I knew it." Bucky had a know-it-all tone, to which he scoffed. He had the locket in his hand, still trying to figure out the significance behind it. Something about it made him question what must've happened for it to be at the bottom of the moon pool.

"One drop, I wiped it straight off, nothing happened. I took precautions. I can do this job," being able to deflect water from her body and still do her job showed how much she will risk for something she enjoyed doing.

"I told you we should've discussed this further," having a sneering tone, James wanted to make sure their secret wouldn’t come out. After all, this entire thing cost him his swimming career. He wanted to make sure nothing went wrong about them.

"What would that prove? You're just scared," Natasha finally addressed the real reason he was being such a hardass, even if he didn't want to admit it to himself.

"No, I'm not," being defensive once again, James was more than willing to own up to whatever stood in his way, for the time being. Just because he felt this way now, it didn't mean he wouldn't regret it later in the day.

"Yes, you are. Scared for me, and too scared to have your own party. Well, I'm not living like that anymore, Bucky. I'm not gonna be scared of every drop of water I see." Putting things into perspective about how he was acting, it was more of an overprotective type.

"Crazy as this sounds, I agree with Natasha, just this once," holding up a finger, Alex had to clarify her actions. Usually, she wasn't the type to agree with anyone, regardless of what went on, but when it came to the truth, that's when she began picking sides.

Nat notices Bucky's necklace in hand, causing her to look at it in awe. "Wow, where'd you get that?"

"The moon pool at Mako Island," what he was talking about was how he'd found it at the bottom of the moon pool. He still believed it had some sort of large significance.

"It's beautiful." Nat complimented the item. Bucky debates something and calls his mom, waiting for a bit for the ringing.

"Hi, mom, I need you to text the invitations. Yes, all the people on the list, plus Alexis." He ends the phone call before darting his eyes between the two teenage girls in front of him. "Natasha's right, if I don't have this party, it's like I'm not even putting up a fight."

Tony comes over with a carrier. On it, there are three seemingly normal drinks. "Three frozen colas," having a smirk on his face, it was enough for Bucky and Alex to not drink them.

"What about them?" Alexis glared at the brunette, knowing this was one of his stupid pranks. She'd known him long enough to know to _not_ fall for his bullshit shenanigans.

"You look thirsty, enjoy," Tony tried to sound innocent, but it was failing miserably. Nat takes a drink and gags, probably because it wasn't Coca-Colas.

"Prune juice?" Bucky asked, fiddling with the locket in his hands. He wasn't sure what made it so special, and it was annoying how much it was racking his brain. Nat nods in response to his question, which Pepper laughs at her reaction.

"Mature, Tony, real mature." Alexis rolls her eyes before focusing back on their booth.

Phones start going off, "Bucky's sleepover's on." Another, and another, just to where multiple ringtones were going off... "Hey, Bucky's party is on, did you get one?"

Pepper's doesn't go off, which caught Stark's attention. "Battery dead?" Tony was expecting Pepper's phone to go off.

"As if I'd go to a stupid party," Pepper scoffed at the thought, which was her version of saying she wasn't invited.

"Why don't we go?" It sounded like he was scheming something, which wasn't gonna be good.

"I don't think they invited us, surprise," she'd thought the message would be clear, and she wasn't planning on going to the sleepover at all.

"Who needs an invitation?" Tony had a smirk on his face before Pepper caught on, giving a sinister smile.

♤

By nightfall and at the sleepover, Natasha reached into the cabinets to grab and get snacks. Bucky had a pillow tucked under his arm, setting them down on the couch. "Buck, are you sure our far-from-black current juices are the way you want to go?"

"What do you mean?" Bringing in things like pillows and blankets, he wanted to make sure there were things for both the girls and the boys coming over.

"Well, I just thought that maybe this year, now that you've quit the swim team, it'd be a good chance to try something new."

"Like what?" Still not catching onto what was being mentioned, he stopped moving around to look her in the eye. Bucky had gotten used to how things worked, which was maybe the reason he didn't know what was being referred to.

"Sugar," throwing an idea out, Natasha didn't think too much about it. He'd been living a fairly strict life, so it couldn't've hurt to try something new.

"Sure, and why don't we just have full-cream milk while we're at it!" Speaking sarcastically, he walked from the couches and beside Natasha. "That's just crazy talk. Are you sure people are going to go for these?"

"Sure, people will love them. Individual bottles, any spillage? Contained!"

"And these?" Referring to the towels, it stood out as compared to the blankets and pillows.

"Just say your mom was doing the washing," as she spoke, Bucky's mom came down the stairs and viewed the room.

"The room looks great! Don't worry, I'm not going to hang around for long. There's sushi for starters, we've got soy and tofu for mains, and you might want to think about getting rid of these towels." Hearing a knock at the door, Winnifred got antsy. "I'll make myself scarce, have fun!"

Bucky went to the door, opening it for the incoming swim team. "Come on in, you're right on time!"

♤

Walking around the room, James had a few plates with the food on them. "Your mom's still serving vegetable salad, right? I brought my dietary supplement just in case." A girl from the swim team was talking, to which he chuckled.

"I may not be on the swim team anymore, but I still eat sensibly."

"I'm tapering, but I've got to be up at five in the morning, so's Jay, so's Chris." The other person standing with the girl was another member of the swimming team.

"Relax, I've set up a quiet room upstairs for anyone who has to crash early," speaking in a humble tone, he knew about waking up early in the morning for swimming.

"That's our Bucky. We miss you on the swimming team," placing their hand on the girl's shoulder, they were lightly reminiscing on the past.

"I still swim, occasionally," watching as the girl picked up a bottle, she smiled.

"These are so cute," Nat and Bucky shared a smile, showing that their worries were pointless for tonight.

♤

Standing at the stairs, Alexis watched as the females put makeup on the males, knowing they'd switch later on. "I told you it wasn't your scene."

"I can't believe it's anyone's scene," having vocal disgust, the doorbell rang, and in walked Pepper and Tony.

"I don't know which one of my numbers you sent my invitation to, but it got lost."

"So how about joining it?" Alexis was annoyed with Pepper, which was clear enough.

"Glad you could make it," doing an inviting gesture, Bucky was talking to them both humbly, even if it was forced. Bucky's mother came down the stairs to see Tony, but she came down because of the doorbell.

"Tony! Fancy seeing you here! What a delightful surprise! And Pepper, I haven't seen you in ages!" She sounded delighted to see them, which she hugged her in a warm feeling.

"Can't stand gatecrashers. Do you want me to kick them out? Say the word," Alex was antsy to kick them out, she wanted to. She didn't like either of them, and for good reason.

"Nah, I don't want to make a scene in front of my mom," both of them spoke in a quiet tone, but not to the point of them whispering. Both of them stepped from behind the wall which they joined in on the conversation.

"Your mom has invited us to stay and eat with you guys," glancing toward the blond, Pepper gave a fake smile while Tony was talking.

"I hope there's enough food," trying to sound kind, Bucky looked toward Pepper.

"Oh, well Tony must've thought the same thing. He's brought along a contribution." Winnifred sounded more caring than anyone, and she couldn't see past their facade.

"Pastries, gluten-free," holding up the tray, he gave an innocent smile, though it had dark undertones.

"Very thoughtful," having a peachy voice, Bucky's mother was still oblivious to what they were actually doing there.

"Mom, can I talk to you?" Light tug away from the conversation, Bucky wanted to express why he was concerned with them being there. "Mom, they weren't invited."

"Oh, well, they're here now," she didn't see an issue with it, which was a problem.

"And you asked them to stay." He wasn't comfortable with them being here, even if he couldn't say it to their faces.

"Bucky, you and Tony might not get along the way you used to, but he's an old family friend. You should make more of an effort, he's a lovely young man. Alright, time for me to go, have a good one." She walked away.

"Hey, let's get into our PJs," a guy suggested, specifically one who was probably going to crash later.

"This has to be a parallel universe." Alex felt sick to her stomach about having to deal with them at all.

♤

Sitting at the table, Alexis had her arms crossed under her chest while Nat felt bored. "Well, this is boring. Everyone's just talking to Tony." Seeing as though everyone was crowded around him, it seemed more like he was draining the life of the party.

"He's up to something," being too annoyed to look at him, Alexis didn't look at him, knowing seeing him would've probably ended up in him being hurt to a bloody pulp.

"Yeah, taking over my party." Buky continued eyeing him while speaking low, though his patience ran out. Adjusting his voice, he spoke loud enough that Stark could hear him. "Tony, I need to speak to you, now."

"Sorry, Bucky, I can't, the girls need me," he was enjoying the fact that he had the spotlight of the party, knowing it was ruining their fun of the party.

"Tony," saying his name as a warning, it was clear he wasn't welcome here anymore.

"Bucky, really, I'd be letting them down," he was being selfish, as he usually was, and it was severely annoying.

"They'll cope," James muttered and pulled him away from the others.

"Excuse me, ladies, I'll be back shortly." The two walk to Bucky's room, where Tony glances over the wall of memories. His eyes dart through most of the trophies, and some photos where Barnes was a kid.

"Oh, check this! Old primary school photo," muttering it to himself, Stark glanced throughout the photo before seeing where Bucky was.

"Whatever you're trying to pull, Tony, forget it," Bucky needed to set a few things straight. Adorable as his efforts were, Tony was too narcissistic to care.

"Hey, I'm just here with Pepper," fake innocence laced his voice, which was vocally obvious. Not to point out the fact he kept looking at the girl while eating with Pepper, which showed how little he cared for people outside himself.

"Oh, really? And what does your girlfriend think of you flirting with everyone else?" James had the idea that he and Pepper were dating, considering how she acted around him.

"Girlfriend? I don't think so. Pepper's the girl I let follow me around when it suits me," from his words, it sounded more like she was leeching onto him and he let her, within moderation. It was borderline sickening how he saw her: a pet, something that showed his true colors.

"You're such a user!" Hearing his words and processing them fully, made him realize how much of a piece of shit Stark was.

"Me? Hey, I bought her a new outfit for tonight, she's getting a good deal." Alex walks in with a tray of his food in her hand, planning to see whether he'd done something to them.

"Pastries, anyone?" Having a cool smirk on her face, Alex wanted to see him have one. She had a gut feeling he laced them with something, either the filling is prune or something disgusting. That's what she was betting on.

"I really shouldn't, they're a gift for you and your guests." He didn't want to eat them, which was a clear sign of him deflecting the situation.

"Oh, but you are a guest, Tony. Go ahead," he reaches to get one, but Alex chooses a different one.

"How about that one?" He picks it up and eats it like it was nothing, causing both of them to look at one another before looking at him. It appeared their plan of exposing him was thwarted, unfortunately...

"Mmm, delicious! Perhaps I'll eat them all myself," the look of shock on their face was enough to prove they were wrong. "What? You didn't think I'd be so immature as to put prunes in them or something, did you?"

"Come on," Bucky lead him down the stairs, wanting him to leave so everything could go back to the way it was before he crashed the party. To be frank, neither of them liked Stark, if it wasn't already obvious.

"You'll be sorry, you're looking at the life of the party here, guys!" Forcing him toward the door, regardless of how much he talked, neither of them listened. He was so self-centered that he believed the party would die without him. It was disappointing, really.

"Hey, Bucky, come show us the necklace," a girl from the team called out. It appeared they noticed he had a chain around his neck, even though it was tucked in his shirt. The chain stuck out around the middle of his neck.

"Get rid of him and do me a favor: keep an eye out. Don't be surprised if he made a reappearance." Bucky walked toward the group, showing the locket he had under his shirt. He couldn't keep it in his pocket forever, especially now, considering it was still mind-wracking.

"Are you gonna go get in your PJs?" A different person, this time, a guy from the team asked the question.

"Yeah, just a minute," he took it off and set it down before walking away.

"Help us!" A pillow fight broke out, one guy went to go fill up their water bottle, Natasha noticed there was something up. Getting up from the couch, she took a friendly approach, knowing she wanted to be the one to handle it "What's the problem?"

"It's just about empty," the guy responds, still trying to get some liquid out of the container.

"I'll fix it," about to accept the container, the guy didn't let go. This action made Natasha look at him with confusion.

"No, it's okay, I'll do it." The two tugged on it, just before water poured out from the nozzle. Time seemed to slow, all the towels were being used, and she couldn't take someone out of their hand.

Sle glances around before seeing the closet. Rushing toward it, she closed the door behind her and quickly stuffed herself into the sleeping bag. Her transformation triggers, catching the attention of everyone. "Why'd she go in there?" One person asked. The door swung open, causing Nat to fall.

"Bout time we got comfy and hit the DVDs, right girls?" Hoping it'd draw the attention away from why she was in the sleeping bag. Tugging it close, she made sure her mermaid top wasn't noticeable, which seemed to work.

"I've got an idea," they played with one girl in a sleeping bag, tossing them lightly, but not so much they go into the air.

"Now, this was Nat's idea, I think we should give her a turn," Pepper spoke, which all of them chanted her name and stepped closer.

"You're risking serious injury, I'm heavier than I look! I suffer from motion sickness!" They closed in, causing her to look over to the bottles and trigger them to go off, exploding on Pepper, who was inching closer to the locket Bucky had.

"Not again! Every time this room gets hot and full of people, something just happens to the air pressure and bang! There go the drinks," lying through his teeth, Bucky glanced throughout all the people in the room.

"Well, those drinks just ruined my new top," Pepper complained, Bucky looked around for Natasha but gave a brief smile when he didn't see her.

In the bathroom, Nat was using the blow-dryer to dry herself off. Hearing knocking, she turned the blow-dryer off out of caution. "Nat, it's me, open up." The door opened, and he placed two towels on her tail, helping her dry off.

"You know, I'm thinking: this is the worst party I've ever been to. Thanks for three hours I'll never get back," Alex peering around the corner, monitoring Pepper. Pep takes the locket and turns the corner.

"Give it back," being blunt about the situation, Al wanted to get the locket back so he could give it back to Bucky.

"Give what back?" Sounding gullible, Pep was planning on leaving with the necklace in hand.

"You know what I'm talking about," pressuring the situation, she knew which hand it was hiding in, even if she would not give it up.

"Get out of my way," Pepper walks past, Alex grabs her arm, making her drop the locket. "I've got better things to do with my time, Chao!"

"Thief," calling Pep for what she was, Al watched as the blonde turned around to face her.

"Get over it. It's your word against mine, and no one's gonna believe you. Hey, some might even think you took it, see ya!" Pep walks out, Alex stands there with annoyance.

♤

In the bathroom, Nat and Bucky sat on the edge of the bathtub. "It's not your fault you got wet," talking in a sympathetic tone; he was comforting her.

"No, but it's my fault you had the party. I was the one that talked you into it." Nat had a guilty conscious, that much clear.

"I'm glad you did, otherwise I'd be stuck in my room watching TV all night." Talking about the way the night would've gone if he didn't have the party, it was clear he had some sort of fun today.

"At least you'd be safe from alfalfa juice," she listed a drink that was served tonight, one of them she exploded to get people off her tail.

"Natasha, you were right to get the job at the marine park. We can't spend our lives hiding."

"I was right, me? Gee, I'll have to get used to that one." Having a joking tone, Nat nudged against Bucky's shoulder playfully.

♤

Alex has the locket in hand, giving it to Bucky. "Pepper's got some nerve taking this," Bucky spoke while accepting the locket from Al.

"Should we tell everyone?" Natasha considered letting everyone know, considering that was the reason they were here.

"There's no point; as she said, it's my word against hers," brushing off the fact that Alexis couldn't argue, she rubbed her hand on her head.

"We should join the party," Bucky suggested, hoping the others would join the teenagers in the current sleepover.

"I'm thinking not, it's not really my scene," showing the word sleepover on the sleeping bag. Alex wasn't used to this sort of interaction.

"Hey, Natasha! Which guy on the swimming team's got the cutest legs?" One girl asked and seeing as though she waited for a moment to think of an answer.

"Uhm, Brian," Nat responded, to which Alex didn't agree with her answer.

"No way, Sam, hottie," counteracting the statement, she glanced between Bucky and Nat, as if speaking with normalcy.

"C'mon, we're building the perfect person out of the guys and girls on the basketball team." Another person spoke up, hoping they'd join in.

"What do ya reckon, Alex? We spend our whole time talking about negative things?" Bucky offered her to join in, to which she thought about it for a second.

"There might be something normal about these chicks after all," Alex hops over with the group, while Bucky holds up the locket to Natasha.

"This might be safer with you," James knew that, within a day, Pepper almost took the necklace.

"With me? You found it," she didn't know how to accept the gift, especially after everything that happened.

"And I nearly got it stolen, here."

"You sure?"

"Anyone who can hide a mermaid tail during a party has what it takes to look after that." She accepted the gift, putting it around her neck.

♤

At work the next morning, Nat carried two buckets near the dolphin tank. "Keep up the good work, Nat, you're really starting to fit in around here."

"Thanks, misses Getty's." She notices the same man from earlier, she walks toward him. His eyes notice the locket around her neck, causing him to look at her with wonder.

"You found it, in the pool, didn't you? On Mako Island. That's where Carol lost it, fifty years ago."

"So you mean, you're-," now the redhead was catching on, it was making more sense to her about him.

"I'm 65 years old, yes. But I don't look any more than 68, right?" He knew how to say the answer without directly saying it. That was one of his perks for being an elder.

"That's not what I meant," clarifying the conversation, she wanted to know whether he was a merman once.

"I know what you mean, even if you don't. What's your name again?" Peering between the locket and the teenager, the man was shocked that he'd seen it in so long.

"Nat," answering his question, she wanted to know more about who he was and what he knew.

"You've got spirit, Nat. You've got spirit, Nat, enjoy it. Enjoy it all you can, you and your friends... maybe you'll be all right, eventually." He walks away, but he was still mysterious to her.

"Wait, don't go! What do you mean?"

**Author's Note:**

> I will start off by saying that this book may take a little while to get done when it comes to my publishing routine, though it'll be done regardless. This book will have all three seasons in one, but there's gonna be a sequel to this book as a whole, preferably when they're adults, but still not Avengers.
> 
> Season 1: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU5KGt6g4OkFAUB_RwQ7Mgjg_O3W8A4Wf  
> Season 2: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU5KGt6g4OkE0u4I73GVRbrd4bVkEXLbw  
> Season 3: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU5KGt6g4OkHBiYvNwW33-gA6vYKVij2R


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